
Copyright}] . 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Abraham Lincoln 

We 
Greatest American 



By 
Janet Jennings 



Hi ill 



Dedicated 

To the plain people of the Nation he saved— To the 
University of Wisconsin that honors his memory. 



u^f-6 / 






LtntoVrvvao* 



Copyright, 1909 

By 

Janet Jennings 



Cantwell Printing 
Madison, Wis. 



Company 



^RARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

Copyright Entry 




PREFACE 

Twenty-five years and more, in Wash- 
ington journalism, afforded exceptional op- 
portunity for conversations and interviews 
with those who knew Abraham Lincoln— 
personal friends in the early Illinois days, 
and later, in the White House. 

'A worshipper at the shrine of his mem- 
ory—a gleaner in the harvest— I have 
given from time to time, facts and inci- 
dents in the newspapers with which I was 
associated— the New York Tribune, and 
the New York Independent. To these 
newspapers I am indebted for the cour- 
teous permission to here include in perma- 
nent form, some facts and incidents, that 
may be of permanent interest to the reader. 

Abraham Lincoln as a lawyer, with facts 
and incidents leading to the Lincoln- 
Douglass debates— covering that part of 
his life opening to the world— were given 
to me in an interview, by the late Judge 
Lawrence Weldon, of the United States 
Court of Claims, in Washington, and ap- 



Abraham Lincoln 

peared in the "Lincoln Number" of the 
Independent, April 4, 1895— the same year 
in a book under copyright. It was among 
the forty-five contributions, making the 
most complete many-sided view, in one 
harmonious whole, of the man and the 
President, ever given to the American peo- 
ple. The facts and incidents of the visit 
to City Point, were given to me by Mr. Wil- 
liam Crook— still in faithful service at the 
White House— in now and then conversa- 
tion, and the story was written, with illus- 
trations, for the Tribune, April 17, 1893. 
Tha incident of the plan to purchase the 
slaves in the Border States— never before 
published— was recently given to me in 
Washington, by Mr. Arthur Crisfield, a son 
of the late Representative Crisfield, Chair- 
man of the Committee. To all who have 
given helpful encouragement in the ven- 
ture of a "first book," I am truly grate- 
ful—and especially to the President of 
the University of Wisconsin, to Mr. Rich- 
ard Lloyd Jones, and to Miss Clara Bar- 
ton. 



The Greatest American 

The aim of this little book, and my sin- 
cere desire is— to offer the best, at the 
smallest cost, to the largest number of 
readers— the plain people, with whom 
Abraham Lincoln was more closely and 
sympathetically allied, than any President 
of this Nation; to influence and impress 
younger generations by precept and exam- 
ple of his life; to inspire the boy of to- 
day—the man of tomorrow— with that 
spirit of moral courage, which, above any 
other force, made Abraham Lincoln the 
Greatest American. 

Janet Jennings. 

McKinley Place, Monroe, Wisconsin, 
June, 1909. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

We 
GREATEST AMERICAN 



TWO pages in our history will never 
grow dim, but stand illumined to 
the end. On one we read— George 
Washington, the Father of his Country. 
On the other we read— Abraham Lincoln, 
the Savior of the Nation. 

George Washington planted the seed of 
Americanism in the [Revolution. Thomas 
Jefferson planted the seed of Democracy 
in the Declaration of Independence. 
American Democracy has the growth of a 
hundred years, and more. 

Abraham Lincoln— the ideal of Ameri- 
can Democracy— a boy— a man of the peo- 
ple—a President of the people. The in- 
fluence of his life is a living presence in 
the humblest home. His father was a roll- 
ing stone that gathers no moss ; his mother, 
[9] 



Abraham Lincoln 

a forceful example of the unlettered great. 
Often he spoke of his mother in these 
words: "All that I am, all that I hope to 
be, I owe to my angel mother." To his 
mother, when a boy, he made the promise 
that held him throughout his life a strictly 
temperance man. "A promise is a prom- 
ise forever," he said. "When made to a 
mother, it is doubly binding." 

Born and reared in poverty— realistic 
poverty— counting his school days in the 
brief period of six months— Abraham Lin- 
coln came up from obscurity to the most 
honored place in the gift of a great nation ; 
not by the lever of wealth, or lucky politi- 
cal chance, but the steady lift of his 
own, innate, resistless, mental and moral 
strength— American Democracy, pure and 
undefiled. And always a never doubting, 
never wavering faith in a God of Jus- 
tice and Mercy,— a faith frequently and 
frankly expressed in the simplicity of his 
inspired wisdom and prophecy. The plain 
people were his university. The Bible and 
John Bunyan, were his first text books. 
[10] 



The Greatest American 

No President ever had a life so full, so 
varied, so unique in personality, from early 
boyhood— borrowing books to study by the 
cabin firelight of his home; earning his 
living on a river flatboat; splitting rails 
in the long stretches of law without clients ; 
to ruler of a people— a people torn and 
rent asunder— in the balance, the life and 
freedom of four million human beings. All 
through those terrible years, worn and bent 
by the burden, yet steadfast in purpose, 
sublime in hope, supreme in the right; in 
his own words, "the right as God gives 
us to see the right." 

Abraham Lincoln was never a member 
of a church, but a regular attendant, and 
while President, going with his family 
to the New York Avenue Presbyterian 
Church, a short walk from the White 
House. Here is what he termed his "Con- 
fession of Faith." 

"When any church will inscribe over its 
altar as its sole qualification for member- 
ship, the Saviour's condensed statement of 
the substance of both Law and Gospel— 
[11] 



Abraham Lincoln 

'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with 
all thy heart and with all thy soul, and 
with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as 
thyself '—that church will I join, with all 
my heart and all my soul. ' ' While in the 
White House he said to a friend, Joshua 
Speed— "I am profitably engaged in read- 
ing the Bible. Take all of this book upon 
reason that you can, and the balance on 
faith, and you will live and die a better 
man. He was a practical Christian in 
every day life. The Golden Rule was his 
guide, and no President ever relied more 
reverently and constantly on Divine assist- 
ance, and believed more implicitly in the 
power of prayer, than Abraham Lincoln. 

This spirit is like a prophecy in the 
words of farewell to his friends and neigh- 
bors, when leaving home for Washington: 

1 'My Friends: No one not in my posi- 
tion can appreciate the sadness I feel at 
this parting. Here I have lived more than 
a quarter of a century; here my children 
were born, and here one of them lies 
buried. I know not how soon I shall see 
[12] 



The Greatest American 

you again. A duty devolves upon me 
which is, perhaps, greater than that which 
has devolved upon any other man since 
the days of Washington. He would never 
have succeeded except for the aid of Di- 
vine Providence, upon which he at all 
times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed 
without the same Divine Aid which sus- 
tained him, and in the same Almighty 
Being I place my reliance for support; 
and I hope you, my friends, will pray that 
I may receive Divine Assistance, without 
which I cannot succeed, but with which 
success is certain. Again, I bid you all an 
affectionate farewell. ' ' 

The first week in May, 1863— Chancel- 
lorsville— was the darkest hour of the 
war— doubt, disaster, and defeat of the 
Army of the Potomac, under General 
Hooker." The record of their dead and 
wounded told how bravely they had fought, 
and lost. The country, weary of the long 
war, the draining taxes of gold and blood, 
discontent everywhere, pleas for peace pil- 
ing his desk with letters, denunciation and 

[13] 



Abraham Lincoln 

criticism. He knew their purport without 
reading them— knew of the forever vacant 
places in the hundred thousand house- 
holds. 

Visitors came and went— Senators, Mem- 
bers, and the Cabinet, with gloom on their 
faces— the White House as if a funeral 
within— people treading softly as if in 
fear of waking the dead. It was then, if 
ever, that Abraham Lincoln reeled and 
staggered under his burden, keeping the 
all night, lonely vigil— walking the floor 
of his office— the Secretary leaving at mid- 
night, the last sound in his ear, that steady 
tramp— returning early in the morning to 
find the President had not been out of the 
room. But a light was on his face one 
morning— a dawn had come. Beside the 
cup of coffee on the table lay his written 
instructions to Hooker— to push forward, 
to fight again. A few weeks later the 
Army of the Potomac fought the battle 
again, and won— at Gettysburg. 

It was in that night's vigil, walking the 
floor of his office, that Abraham Lincoln 
[14] 



The Greatest American 

prayed, as he told General Sickles after- 
ward, when asked about his anxiety. "I 
will tell you why I felt no anxiety about 
Gettysburg, when everybody seemed panic 
stricken over disasters, and nobody could 
say what was going to happen. I was 
oppressed, and the gloom was heavy. I 
locked the door of my room, got down on 
my knees and prayed to Almighty God 
for victory at Gettysburg. I told Him 
that this was His war, our cause was His 
cause, that we could not stand another 
Fredericksburg or Chancellorsville. Then 
and there I made a solemn vow, that if 
He would stand by our boys at Gettys- 
burg, I would stand by Him. He did, 
and I will. I don't know how to explain 
it, but a sweet peace crept into my soul, 
and I knew that things would go right at 
Gettysburg." If Abraham Lincoln had 
wavered, if he had failed in faith or cour- 
age, or prompt decision— the Nation, and 
not the Army of the Potomac would have 
lost its great battle. 

When asked about General Grant, then 
[15] 



Abraham Lincoln 

at Vicksburg, "fighting it out on this line 
if it takes all summer, ' ' the President said : 

"Grant is pegging away down there. 
But I have been praying for Vicksburg 
also, and I believe our Heavenly Father is 
going to give us victory there, too." 

Though not then known, the victory was 
already won at Vicksburg. 

Abraham Lincoln had the conviction 
deep in his heart, that the war had be- 
come a war for freedom of the slave and 
was God's own war. With simple abiding 
faith he asked God's help, and always with 
that spirit of acceptance that shines with 
unfading sunlight, in his second Inaugu- 
ral Address, closing with the words: 

"Fondly do we hope, fervently do we 
pray, that this mighty scourge of war may 
speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills, 
that it continue until all the wealth piled 
by the bondman's two hundred and fifty 
years of unrequited toil, shall be sunk, 
and until every drop of blood drawn with 
a lash shall be paid with another drawn 
by a sword— as was said three thousand 
[16] 



The Greatest American 

years ago, so still it must be said, 'the 
judgments of the Lord are true and right- 
eous altogether.' With malice toward 
none, with charity for all; with firmness 
in the right as God gives us to see the right, 
let us strive on, to finish the work we are 
in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to 
care for him who shall have borne the bat- 
tle and for his widow, and his orphan,— 
to do all which may achieve and cherish 
a just and lasting peace among ourselves 
and with all nations." 

It is the most sublime State paper of 
the century, and with the immortal twenty 
line address at Gettysburg— a modern 
classic. 



[17] 



THE EMANCIPATION 

The Emancipation was not an accident, 
not of sudden growth. It was evolved 
from the nature of the man. Abraham 
Lincoln's first personal knowledge and 
personal view of a slave sale, was when a 
very young man, he went to New Orleans, 
down the Mississippi River with a cargo 
on a raft of his own construction. With 
a fellow boatman, he sauntered through 
the slave market, where Southern planters 
were gathered at an auction of men, wo- 
men and children, placed in rows against 
the wall, for inspection. The autioneer 
proclaimed their good qualities as he would 
those of a horse or mule, saying some were 
Christians, and therefore valued higher, 
as they would be more trusty workers. 
The hammer of the auctioneer fell again 
and again, dooming the separation of hus- 
bands and wives, parents and children, 
forever. Abraham Lincoln's lips quivered 
and his voice choked as he said to his com- 
[18] 



The Greatest American 

panion— "If I ever get a chance to hit 
that thing: I will hit it hard, by the Eter- 
nal God." 

Who was he, to hit that thing? A boat- 
man, a teamster, a backwoodsman, nothing 
more. The thing he would hit, was legal- 
ized in half the states of the Republic, 
intrenched in the church and framework 
of society, a political force recognized in 
the Constitution. Was there the remotest 
possibility that he would ever be able to 
smite such an institution? Why did he 
raise his right hand toward Heaven, and 
swear that solemn oath ? Was it some dim 
vision of what might come to him through 
Divine Providence, in the unfolding 
years? If we believe that God works in 
unseen ways, then we must believe, that 
at that moment, there was implanted in 
the soul of Abraham Lincoln, the spirit 
and power of God,— waiting God's time 
for "the clock of destinty to strike the 
hour of the Nation— the golden moment of 
the slave." His Cabinet were not ready 
for Emancipation, declaring it too soon 
[19] 



Abraham Lincoln 

and unwise. The country was not ready 
for this, the most stupendous task ever set 
by a ruler of people— President, King, or 
Emperor. When the clock struck the 
hour— Abraham Lincoln heard it, and was 
ready. The hand lifted in solemn oath in 
that slave market, took up the pen of Lib- 
erty, and wrote out of existence the 
American slave market— the American 
slave— the American slave master. Who 
shall say, the power that found an outlet 
in American history, through the person- 
ality and pen of Abraham Lincoln, was 
not the spirit and power of that Eternal 
God invoked at the slave auction? In the 
interval between the New Orleans slave 
market and the White House, during his 
one term in Congress, he introduced a bill 
to abolish slavery in the District of Co- 
lumbia. Now, by the stroke of his pen, he 
swept slavery from the face of the whole 
country. 

On September 22, 1862, Abraham Lin- 
coln announced to hisi Cabinet, in the fol- 
lowing words, his decision to issue the 
Emancipation Proclamation : 

[20] 




-! 




it 



\S 



Emancipation Monui 



The Greatest American 

"Gentlemen: I have, as you are aware, 
thought a great deal about the relation of 
this war to slavery, and you all remember 
that several weeks ago I read to you an 
order that I had prepared upon the sub- 
ject, which, on account of objections made 
by some of you, was not issued. Ever 
since then my mind has been much occu- 
pied with this subject, and I have thought 
all along that the time for acting on it 
might probably come. 

' ' I think the time has come now. I wish 
it was a better time. I wish that we were 
in a better condition. The action of the 
army against the rebels has not been quite 
what I should have best liked, but they 
have been driven out of Maryland, and 
Pennsylvania is no longer in danger of 
invasion. 

"When the rebel army was at Freder- 
ick, I determined, as soon as it should be 
driven out of Maryland, to issue a pro- 
clamation of emancipation, such as I 
thought most likely to be useful. I said 
nothing to anyone, but I made a promise 
[21] 



Abraham Lincoln 

to myself and — hesitating a little— to my 
Maker. 

"The rebel army is now driven out, and 
I am going to fulfill that promise. I have 
called you together to hear what I have 
written down. I do not wish your advice 
about the main matter, for that I have de- 
termined for myself. This I say without 
intending anything but respect for any 
one of you. But I already know the views 
of each on this question. They have been 
heretofore expressed, and I have consid- 
ered them as thoroughly and carefully as 
I can. What I have written, is that which 
my reflections have determined me to say. 
If there is anything in the expressions I 
use, or in any minor matter which any 
one of you think had best be changed, I 
shall be glad to receive your suggestion. 

"One other observation I will make. I 
know very well that many others might, in 
this matter as in others, do better than I 
can ; and if I was satisfied that the public 
confidence was more fully possessed by any 
one of them than by me, and knew of any 
[22] 



The Greatest American 

constitutional way in which he could be 
put in my place, he should have it. I would 
gladly yield to him. But though I be- 
lieve I have not so much of the confidence 
of the people as I had some time since, I 
do not know that, all things considered, 
any other person has more; and, however 
this may be, there is no way in which I 
can have any other man put where I am. 
I am here; I must do the best I can, and 
bear the responsibility of taking the course 
which I feel I ought to take." 



[23] 



SUPREMACY OF CHARAC- 
TER—TACT 

It was not supremacy of official posi- 
tion, but supremacy of character, when he 
read that Proclamation to the members of 
his Cabinet, at the same time informing 
them there would be no discussion, as he 
had already decided the question, there- 
fore any suggestions would be only in ref- 
erence to the formal wording of the docu- 
ment. All the members of his Cabinet 
were men of prominence in public life. 
The Secretary of State, Wm. H. Seward, 
had been Governor of New York— the 
idol of the Empire State. Salmon P. 
Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury, had 
been Governor of Ohio, and afterward ap- 
pointed by the President Chief Justice of 
the Supreme Court of the United States. 
These men had been candidates for Presi- 
dent at the Convention nominating Abra- 
ham Lincoln— then comparatively unknown 
beyond the boundaries of the prairies— now 
[24] 



The Greatest American 

the man of action— he alone deciding the 
momentous question of emancipation. 

Two daysi after, on September 24, a 
great crowd of joyous people gathered at 
the portico of the White Hjouse, and in 
response to congratulations, the President 



"What I did, I did after a very full de- 
termination, and under a very heavy and 
solemn sense of responsibility. I can only 
trust in God I have made no mistake. 

"It is now for the country and the 
world to pass judgment, and, maybe, take 
action upon it. In my position, I am en- 
vironed with difficulties. Yet they are 
scarcely so great as the difficulties of those 
who, upon the battlefield, are endeavoring 
to purchase, with their blood and their 
lives, the future happiness and prosperity 
of their country. Let us never forget 
them!'' 

With his supremacy of character and 

moral courage, Abraham Lincoln possessed 

a rare tact and self control that "won 

out" on many occasions, during the dark 

[25] 



Abraham Lincoln 

hours. The day after he arrived in Wash- 
ington for his inauguration, a so-called 
Peace Congress was in session, helplessly 
seeking some way to settle the acute war- 
like differences between North and South. 
Delegations had called on President 
Buchanan with much ceremony, and now 
called on Abraham Lincoln, with scant 
courtesy. An unguarded word might be 
a match to a magazine— the excitement 
was so intense, so hot with anger over his 
election— men scowling with criticism, al- 
ready determined on rebellion. A delega- 
tion from New York, Wm. E. Dodge chair- 
man, declared the whole country was anx- 
iously awaiting the inaugural address. 

"It is for you, sir, to say whether the 
Nation shall be plunged into bankruptcy, 
whether the grass shall grow in the streets 
of our commercial cities, ' ' said Mr. Dodge. 

"Then I say it shall not," Mr. Lincoln 
replied, with a merry twinkle in his eye. 
"If it depends upon me, the grass will not 
grow anywhere except in the fields and 
meadows." 

[26] 



The Greatest American 

"And you will yield to the just demands 
of the South?" asked Mr. Dodge. "You 
will leave her to control her own institu- 
tions? You will admit slave states into 
the Union on the same conditions as free 
states? You will not go to war on account 
of slavery?" 

A sad expression passed over Abraham 
Lincoln 's face. " I do not know that I un- 
derstand your meaning, Mr. Dodge," he 
said, without raising his voice. "Nor do 
I know what my acts or opinions may be 
in the future, beyond this: If I shall ever 
come to the great office of President of the 
United States, I shall take an oath. I 
shall swear that I will faithfully execute 
the office of President of all the United 
States, and that I will, to the best of my 
ability, preserve, protect and defend the 
Constitution of the United States. This 
is a great and solemn duty. With the sup- 
port and the assistance of Almighty God I 
shall undertake to perform it. It is not 
the Constitution as I would like to have it, 
but as it is, that is to be defended. The 
[27] 



Abraham Lincoln 

Constitution will not be preserved and de- 
fended until enforced and obeyed in every 
part of every one of the United States. 
It must be so respected, obeyed, enforced 
and defended— let the grass grow where it 
may. ' ' 

Silence fell. No one could gainsay the 
weight and balanced justice of these 
words, entirely unpremeditated. And the 
tall, plain man, with never a change in 
his voice, nor shade of paleness on his face, 
nor touch of irritation in his tone, was 
the steady master of himself— master of 
these men — master of the whole occasion. 
His splendid self-control had won. 

A week later he delivered the Inaugural 
Address, that the Delegation said, "the 
whole country was anxiously awaiting." 

The outlook is given in plain, direct, 
concise language: 

"Why should there not be a patient 
confidence in the ultimate justice of the 
people? Is there any better or equal hope 
in the world? In our present differences, 
is either party without faith of being in 
[28] 



The Greatest American 

the right? If the Almighty Ruler of Na- 
tions, with His eternal truth and justice, 
be on your side of the North, or on your 
side of the South, that truth and that 
justice will surely prevail by the judg- 
ment of this great tribunal— the Ameri- 
can people. 

"My countrymen, one and all, think 
calmly and well upon this whole subject. 
Nothing valuable can be lost by taking 
time. If there be an object to hurry any 
of you, in hot haste, to a step which you 
would never take deliberately, that object 
will be frustrated by taking time; but no 
good object can be frustrated by it. Such 
of you as are now dissatisfied still have the 
old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the 
sensitive part, the laws of your own fram- 
ing under it; while the new administra- 
tion will have no immediate power, if it 
would, to change it. 

"If it were admitted that you who are 
dissatisfied hold the right side in the dis- 
pute, there is still no single reason for 
precipitate action. Intelligence, patriot- 
ic] 



The Greatest American 

ism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on 
Him who has never yet forsaken this fa- 
vored land, are still competent to adjust, 
in the best way, all our present difficul- 
ties. 

"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow- 
countrymen, and not in mine, is the mo- 
mentous issue of civil war. 

"The government wall not assail you; 
you can have no conflict without being 
yourselves the aggressors. 

"You can have no oath registered in 
heaven to destroy the government; while I 
shall have the most solemn one to 'pre- 
serve, protect, and defend' it." 

With this note of warning, there is in 
the closing words an appeal for peace, like 
the pathos of a prayer. 

"I am loath to close. We are not ene- 
mies, but friends. We must not be ene- 
mies. Though passion may have strained, 
it must not break our bonds of affection. 
The mystic chords of memory, stretching 
from every battle field and patriot grave, 
to every living heart and hearthstone all 
[30] 



The Greatest American 

over this broad land, will yet swell the 
chorus of the Union, when again touched, 
as surely they will be, by the better angels 
of our nature." 

The same spirit pervades the remarks to 
his fellow-citizens at his Springfield home, 
in the previous November, at a meeting to 
celebrate his election to the Presidency. 

"In all our rejoicings, let us neither ex- 
press nor cherish any hard feelings toward 
any citizen who by his vote has differed 
with us. Let us at all times remember 
that all American citizens are brothers of 
a common country, and should dwell to- 
gether in the bonds of fraternal feeling." 

When the 6th Massachusetts Regiment 
had been fired upon, April 19, 1861, in 
Baltimore, the people, in the intense ex- 
citement, protested against any more 
troops passing through the city to Wash- 
ington or over the "sacred soil" of Mary- 
land. The President said: 

"There is no piece of American soil too 
good to be pressed by the foot of a loyal 
soldier, on his march to the defense of the 
Capital of his country." 
[31] 



Abraham Lincoln 

Firmness and patience won, and in a 
month, the reaction showed that self-inter- 
est would not permit Baltimore to be an 
isolated secession outpost. If not quite a 
Union city, Baltimore ceased to be seces- 
sionist. 

To Southern members of the Peace Con- 
gress 1 , he said : 

"My course is as plain as a turnpike 
road. It is marked out for me by the Con- 
stitution. I am in no doubt which way 
to go." 

The wiser visitors passed out, thought- 
ful—and seeing more clearly— with some 
new ideas about the man who bore so well 
the ordeal of criticism. They saw a self- 
possessed man, calm and dignified, ex- 
pressing conviction, distinct and firm pur- 
pose. And above all, they saw that strange 
sadness on the face, as though the misery 
and sufferings his fellow-citizens were to 
endure through the coming years, already 
burdened his soul. 



[32] 



MORAL COURAGE— ORATORY 

His extraordinary moral courage was a 
lever and forceful power in the life of 
Abraham Lincoln, from his cabin home to 
the White House. A month after his in- 
auguration, when Secretary Seward plainly 
intimated in a written paper that he would 
carry out certain policies for the Admin- 
istration, it was with a gentle courtesy 
that the President placed Mr. Seward's 
paper in his desk, and with a wise admoni- 
tion, indicated that the policies he himself 
proposed, he would carry out. From that 
day to the end, he was the head of his 
official family— the leader— not the fol- 
lower—the commander of his Administra- 
tion. It was the finest moral courage, when 
in time of great emergency, he sent for 
Edwin M. Stanton, and asked him to be 
the Secretary of War. Mr. Stanton was 
a Democrat, and had been a member of 
President Buchanan's Cabinet. But he 
knew that Mr. Stanton possessed the un- 
[33] 



Abraham Lincoln 

usual qualifications imperative at that 
time for a successful management of the 
War Department. With the "Iron Secre- 
tary," as Mr. Stanton was termed, the 
President could be firm, yielding in trifles, 
but masterful if need be. One day Secre- 
tary Stanton said : 

"Mr. President, I cannot carry out that 
order. I don't believe it is wise." 

Speaking very gently, the President re- 
plied: 

"Mr. Secretary, I reckon you will have 
to carry it out," and it was done. 

He treated with silence the suggestion 
of General McClellan— that the President 
place himself at the head of civil and 
military affairs, with a General in com- 
mand of the army on whom he could 
rely— presumably McClellan— and thus as- 
sume the dictatorship of the Republic. 
While he asserted for himself every right 
and authority which the Constitution and 
the laws conferred upon him, he declined 
to assume any power not warranted by the 
title of the office of President; resolute in 
[34] 



The Greatest American 

his purpose to perform every duty, and 
always declaring that the responsibility of 
preserving the government rested upon 
the people. 

He promptly turned down a similar 
plan of General Hooker— not in silence- 
but in a letter that is without a parallel 
in the records of War, or annals of Peace. 
After the disastrous battle of Fredericks- 
burg, General Burnside desired the re- 
moval of Hooker from the Army of the 
Potomac. The President did not approve 
of this, and gave General Hooker the com- 
mand, at the same time writing him the 
following letter, dated Jan. 26, 1863 : 

General — I have placed you at the head of the 
Army of the Potomac. Of course, I have done 
this upon what appear to me to be sufficient rea- 
sons, and yet I think best for you to know that 
there are some things in regard to which I am 
not quite satisfied with you. I believe you to be 
a brave and skillful soldier, which, of course, I 
like. I also believe you do not mix politics with 
your profession, in which you are right. 

You have confidence in yourself, which is a 
valuable if not an indispensable quality. You are 
ambitious, which, within reasonable bounds, does 
good rather than harm; but I think that during 
Gen. Burnside 's command of the army you have 

[35] 



Abraham Lincoln 

taken counsel of your ambition and thwarted him 
as much as you could, in which you did a 
great wrong to the country and to a most meritor- 
ious and honorable brother officer. I have heard, 
in such a way as to believe it, of your recently 
saying that both the Army and the Government 
needed a dictator. 

Of course it was not for this, but in spite of 
it, that I have given you the command. Only 
those Generals who gain successes can set up 
dictators. What I now ask of you is military 
success, and I will risk the dictatorship. The 
Government will support you to the utmost of its 
ability, which is neither more nor less than it 
has done and will do for all commanders. 

I much fear that the spirit which you have 
aided to infuse into the army, of criticising their 
commander and withholding confidence from him, 
will now turn upon you. I shall assist you as 
far as I can to put it down. Neither you nor 
Napoleon, if he were alive again, could get any 
good out of an army while such a spirit prevails 
in it; and now beware of rashness. Beware of 
rashness, but with energy and sleepless vigilance 
go forward and give us victories. 

In August 1862, Abraham Lincoln's 
stand for the Union, determined and un- 
alterable—reached high water mark- 
given to the whole world, in his letter to 
Horace Greeley, editor of the New York 
Tribune. Mr. Greeley had addressed an 
editorial in the Tribune to the President, 
under the heading of— "The Prayer of 
[36] 



The Greatest American 

Twenty Millions"— and over his own sig- 
nature, bitterly criticised the management 
of the war, and especially what he declared 
to be a policy of delay in freeing the 
Southern slaves. The President wrote to 
Mr. Greeley: 

I have just read yours of the 19th, addressed 
to myself through the New York Tribune. If 
there be in it any statements or assumptions of 
fact which I may know to be erroneous, I do not, 
now and here, controvert them. If there be in it 
any inferences which I may believe to be falsely 
drawn, I do not, now and here, argue against 
them. If there be perceptible in it an impatient 
and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to 
an old friend whose heart I have always supposed 
to be right. 

As to the policy I "seem to be pursuing/' as 
you say, I have not meant to leave any one in 
doubt. 

I would save the Union. I would save it the 
shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner 
the National authority can be restored, the nearer 
the Union will be ' ' the Union as it was. ' ' If 
there be those who would not save the Union un- 
less they could at the same time save slavery, I 
do not agree with them. If there be those who 
would not 'save the Union unless they could at 
the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with 
them. 

My paramount object in this struggle is to 
save the Union, and is not either to save or de- 
stroy slavery. If I could save the Union without 
freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could 
[37] 



Abraham Lincoln 

save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; 
and if I could save it by freeing some and leav- 
ing others alone, I would also do that. What I 
do about slavery and the colored race, I do be- 
cause I believe it helps to save the Union; and 
what I forbear I forbear because I do not be- 
lieve it would help to save the Union. 

I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I 
am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more 
whenever I shall believe doing more will help the 
cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown 
to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast 
as they shall appear to be true views. 

I have here stated my purpose according to 
my view of official duty; and I intend no modifi- 
cation of my oft-expressed personal wish that all 
men everywhere could be free. 

This celebrated letter— unique and terse 
—is dated August 22, 1862, and is the 
more significant from the fact, that just 
one month before, on July 22, the Pro- 
clamation of Emancipation had been read 
to the Cabinet, and one month later, Sep- 
tember 22, was issued— to take effect Jan- 
uary 1, 1863— when "the clock of destiny 
struck the hour— the golden moment of 
the slave.' ' 

Abraham Lincoln could not save the 
Union with slavery, and he saved the 
Union without slavery, by a "necessary 
[38] 



The Greatest American 

war measure"— emancipation. He said of 
the Proclamation— 

"If it is not valid, it needs no retraction. 
If it is valid, it cannot be retracted, any 
more than the dead can be brought back 
to life." 

His letter to Horace Greeley did much 
to steady the loyal sentiment of the coun- 
try in the very grave emergency. As a 
matter of fact it was the impractical, im- 
patient, but sincere anti-slavery element 
to say Amen to "The Prayer of Twenty 
Millions," though but a very small part 
of twenty millions had been demanding 
immediate emancipation— at any cost- 
Union or no Union. This small part in- 
cluded a delegation representing all of the 
religious denominations in Chicago, that 
went to the White House September 13, a 
week before the Proclamation was issued, 
with the belief that to them had been re- 
vealed the plan of wisest action to ter- 
minate the war. To these good people the 
President said: 

' ' I hope it will not be irreverent for me 

[39] 



Abraham Lincoln 

to say that if it is probable that God would 
reveal His will to others on a point so 
connected with my duty, it might be sup- 
posed He would reveal it directly to me; 
for, unless I am more deceived in myself 
than I often am, it is my earnest desire 
to know the will of Providence in this 
matter. And if I can learn what it is, I 
will do it. 

"These are not, however, the days of 
miracles; and T suppose it will be granted 
that I am not to expect a direct revela- 
tion. I must study the plain physical facts 
of the case, ascertain what is possible, and 
learn what appears to be wise and right. 
Whatever appears to be God's will, I will 
do it." 

As time went on, it was clear to all that 
the self contained Western lawyer was a 
man of definite purpose, and extraordinary 
wisdom, and that he was in fact, as well 
as in name, President of the United 
States— and more— he won the respect and 
affection of every member of his Cabinet. 

Moral courage was refined gold in Abra- 
[40] 



The Greatest American 

ham Lincoln's speeches. In the campaign, 
two years before his nomination for Presi- 
dent, while the Lincoln-Douglass debates 
were in full swing, the two men spoke on 
the same day, at Clinton, De Witt County, 
Illinois. Judge Douglass spoke over three 
hours at the open air, afternoon meeting, 
to an immense audience gathered from far 
and near, crowding on board seats laid 
across logs. It was one of the most forci- 
ble political speeches the "Little Giant" 
had ever made, and his reference to Mr. 
Lincoln's Springfield speech a short time 
before was regarded as very personal. 
When he closed, there was a great shout 
for "Lincoln." Finally, Mr. Lincoln stood 
up on the board, where he had been sitting, 
and when the crowd saw his tall form, 
shouts and cheers were wild. When he 
could make himself heard he said : ' ' This 
is Judge Douglass's meeting. I have no 
right, therefore, no disposition to inter- 
fere. But if you ladies and gentlemen de- 
sire to hear what I have to say on these 
questions, and will meet me this evening 
[41] 



Abraham Lincoln 

at the Courthouse Yard, East Side, I will 
try to answer the gentleman." 

The crowd was even greater in the even- 
ing, and Mr. Lincoln's speech was marvel- 
lous for sound, unanswerable argument. 
Mr. Douglas had charged him with being 
in favor of negro equality— at that time 
the bugbear of politics. To this he re- 
plied : 

"Judge Douglass charges me with being 
in favor of negro equality, and to the ex- 
tent that he charges I am not guilty. I 
am guilty of hating servitude and loving 
freedom; and while I would not carry the 
equality of the races to the extent charged 
by my adversary, I am happy to confess 
before you, that in some things the black 
man is the equal of the white man. 

"In the right to eat the bread— without 
leave of anybody else— which his own 
hands earn — he is my equal— and the equal 
of Judge Douglas— and the equal of every 
living man." 

It was the perfect expression of Ameri- 
can statesmanship— as, with the last sen- 
[42] 






The Greatest American 

tence he lifted himself to his full height, 
and raised his hands toward the stars of 
the still night— the scene was impressive, 
the cheers tremendous. 

In a speech at Columbus, Ohio, in 1859, 
speaking on the natural rights of the 
negro, he said: 

"I have no purpose to introduce politi- 
cal and social equality between the white 
and the black races. There is a physical 
difference between the two which, in my 
judgment, will probably forbid their ever 
living together upon the footing of per- 
fect equality, and inasmuch as it becomes 
a necessity that there must be a difference, 
I, as well as Judge Douglass, am in favor 
of the race to which I belong having the 
superior position. 

"I have never said anything to the con- 
trary, but I hold that, notwithstanding all 
this, there is no reason in the world why 
the negro is not entitled to all the natural 
rights enumerated in the Declaration of 
Independence — the right to life — liberty — 
and the pursuit of happiness." 
[43] 



Abraham Lincoln 

Abraham Lincoln's celebrated speech at 
Springfield, Illinois, June 17, during the 
campaign of 1858, sounded the slogan of 
the Republican party. It was in that 
speech he declared: 

"A house divided against itself cannot 
stand. I believe this government cannot 
permanently endure, half slave, half free. 
I do not expect the Union to be dissolved. 
I do not expect the house to fall. But I 
do expect it will cease to be divided. It 
will become all one thing or all the other. 
Either the opponents of slavery will arrest 
the further spread of it, and place it where 
the public mind shall rest in the belief 
that it is in process of ultimate extinction ; 
or its advocates will push forward till it 
shall become alike lawful in all the states, 
old as well as new, North as well as 
South." 

When a friend said— "Well, Lincoln, 
that foolish speech will kill you, and de- 
feat you for all offices for all time to 
come," referring to the "House Divided" 
speech, Mr. Lincoln said : 
[44] 



The Greatest American 

"If I had to draw a pen across and 
erase my whole life from existence, and I 
had one poor gift or choice left, as to what 
I should save from the wreck, I should 
choose that speech, and leave it to the 
world unerased." 

Politicians of the West had begged him 
beforehand, to make this truth softer. He 
declared that it was God's truth, the time 
had come for speaking the truth, the peo- 
ple were ready for it. This marvellous, 
prophetic reading of the people was in 
large part Abraham Lincoln's wonderful 
wisdom and strength. He was a study at 
all times. On the one side, off-hand, ap- 
proachable, speaking the vocabulary of the 
people. On the other, a certain dignity, 
commanding the respect of the highest. A 
written elegance of speech, always gram- 
matical, his diction was the perfection of 
plain, simple English. 

After the debates with Stephen A. Doug- 
lass, New York and the East showed inter- 
est and curiosity in the Western lawyer, 
and Abraham Lincoln was invited to speak 
[45] 



Abraham Lincoln 

at Cooper Institute in New York City. 
William Cullen Bryant presided, and 
David Dudley Field escorted Mr. Lincoln 
to the platform. It was the intellect and 
mental culture, representatives of financial 
power, lofty character, pre-eminent influ- 
ence of the metropolis, that made the great 
audience. "None finer in the days of 
Webster and Clay," the newspapers re- 
ported. Manv were present from curios- 
ity, to see this new man from the West, 
who had proved more than the equal of 
the brilliant Douglass. When Abraham 
Lincoln had closed his masterly address, 
there was no feeling of curiosity in the 
vast audience. It was a feeling of pro- 
found respect and admiration, and they 
asked one another: "What manner of 
man is this lawyer of the West, who sets 
forth these great truths as we have never 
yet heard them before." It was then and 
there disclosed and understood— the power 
of Abraham Lincoln to grasp opinion 
among the masses— and to make such per- 
fect presentation of it, as caused him to be 
[46] 



The Greatest American 

known, not as a follower of opinion— but 
creator and leader of it. 

General Sherman said: "I have seen 
and heard many of the famous orators of 
our country, but Abraham Lincoln's un- 
studied speeches surpassed all that I ever 
heard. I have never seen them equalled or 
even imitated. It was not scholarship, it 
was not rhetoric, it was not elocution. It 
was the unaffected and spontaneous elo- 
quence of the heart. He was the purest, 
the most generous, the most magnanimous 
of men, and will hold a place in the world's 
history loftier than that of any king or 
conqueror. His work was one of the great- 
est labors a human intellect ever sus- 
tained. ' ' 

Goldwin Smith said of the Gettysburg 
address : 

"Not a Sovereign in Europe, however 
trained from the cradle for state pomps, 
and however prompted by statesmen and 
courtiers, could have uttered himself more 
regally than did Lincoln at Gettysburg." 



[47] 



TENDER SYMPATHY— JUSTICE 
AND MERCY 

Ajbraham Lincoln's great heart and ten- 
der sympathy daily revealed his sense of 
justice and mercy, in pardons for soldiers. 
His Generals complained that it was an in- 
terference, and seriously impaired disci- 
pline in the army. Sometimes it was a 
soldier who had gone home to see his fam- 
ily, who was to be shot as a deserter. Some- 
times it was a sentinel to be shot for sleep- 
ing at his post. But in every instance the 
man whose life was saved went back to 
duty, a better soldier. 

"It makes me feel rested," the Presi- 
dent said, "after a hard day's work, if I 
can find some good cause for saving a 
man's life, and I go to bed happy, as I 
think how joyous the signing of my 
name will make him, and his family and 
friends. ' ' One little story illustrates many. 

William Scott, from a Vermont farm— a 
private, on a long march— that night 
[48] 



The Greatest American 

on picket— the next day another long 
march, that night again on picket, taking 
the place of a sick comrade, and then- 
William Scott was found sleeping on his 
beat. The fatigue was too much for him. 
Discipline must be maintained in the army. 
William Scott was tried by court-martial, 
and sentenced to be shot. It was at Chain 
Bridge, a few miles above Washington, 
where, a prisoner in his tent, he waited for 
the next morning, to be shot. The tent 
flaps opened and the President entered!. 
Let Scott tell the story. 

"The President was the kindest man I 
had ever seen. I was scared at first. I 
had never talked with a great man. But 
he was so easy and gentle like, asked me 
all about the people at home, and the 
farm, and neighbors, and where I went to 
school, and then about my mother, how 
she looked, and I showed him her photo- 
graph I always had with me. He said 
how thankful I ought to be that my mother 
still lived, and that if he were in my place 
he would try to make her a proud mother 
[49] 

4 



Abraham Lincoln 

and never cause her a sorrow or tear. I 
didn't know why he said so much about 
my mother— when I was to be shot the 
next morning. He never said a word about 
the dreadful next morning; and I braced 
up, and told him I didn't feel a bit guilty, 
but only I wished he'd fix it so the firing 
party wouldn't be from my regiment. 
That was the hardest of all, to die by the 
hands of my comrades. Before I could 
say any more he was standing, and he 
said: 'My boy, stand up and look me in 
the face. You are not going to be shot to- 
morrow. You are going back to your regi- 
ment. But this has been a good deal of 
trouble for me, to come up from Washing- 
ton, when I am so busy. I want to know 
how you are going to pay my bill?' 

"Well, there was a big lump in my 
throat, but I managed to say how grateful 
I was, and in some way I was sure I could 
pay him. My bounty was in the savings 
bank, and we could borrow money on 
mortgage of the farm, and my friends 
would help, and we could make up five or 
[50] 



The Greatest American 

six hundred dollars, anyhow. Then he 
said: 

" 'But it is a great deal more than that. 
My bill is a large one. Your friends can- 
not pay it, nor your bounty, nor the farm. ' 
Then he put his hands on my shoulders 
and said: 

" 'There is only one man in all the 
world who can pay it. His name is Wil- 
liam Scott. If from this day William 
Scott does his duty, so that when he comes 
to die, and I was there, he can look me in 
the face as he does now and say, I have 
done my duty as a soldier, then the debt 
will be paid. Will you make that prom- 
ise and keep it?' " 

It was in one of the awful battles of the 
Peninsula. William Scott was dying. 
"Boys, I shall never see another battle," 
he said. "You all know what you can tell 
them at home. I have tried to do the right 
thing. If you ever have the chance, tell 
the President I have tried to be a good 
soldier, and true to the flag. Tell him that 
I have never forgotten his beautiful words 
[51] 



Abraham Lincoln 

at Chain Bridge, and if I had lived I 
should have paid my whole debt. Now 
that I am dying, I think of his kind face, 
and thank him because he gave me the 
chance to fall like a soldier in battle, and 
not like a coward by the hands of my 
comrades. ' ' 

Was there ever a more Christ-like jus- 
tice and mercy, more tender, exquisite 
sympathy, than this revealed in the heart 
of Abraham Lincoln? Who can doubt a 
gracious Providence, with that wise, 
strong hand set to grasp the helm? And 
Secretary Stanton well said, as he looked 
on the kindly face in death: " There lies 
the most perfect ruler of men." 

The same great hearted, tender sympa- 
thy is revealed in his letter to the mother 
bereft of her five sons. An engrossed copy 
of this fac-simile letter is treasured by 
Oxford University, England, as a model 
of pure, expressive English, and elegant 
diction. 



[52] 



The Greatest American 



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[53] 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

During his first year in the White 
House, in reply to a request for a sketch 
of his life, Abraham Lincoln said: 

"My early history is perfectly charac- 
terized by a single line of Gray's 'Elegy': 
''The short and simple annals of the 
poor. ' ' 

The following autobiography was writ- 
ten by Mr. Lincoln's own hand, in 1859, 
in response to the request of a friend, J. 
W. Fell of Springfield, Illinois. The note 
sent with the sketch says: "Herewith is 
a little sketch, as you requested. There 
is not much of it, for the reason, I sup- 
pose, that there is not much of me." 

"I was born February 12, 1809, in Har- 
din Co., Ky. My parents were both born 
in Virginia, of undistinguished families- 
second families, perhaps I should say. My 
mother, who died in my tenth year, was 
of a family of the name of Hanks, some 
of whom now reside in Adams Co., and 
others in Mason Co., 111. My paternal 
[54] 



The Greatest American 

grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, emigrated 
from Rockingham Co., Va., to Kentucky, 
about 1781 or 1782, where, a year or 
two later, he was killed by Indians, not in 
battle, but by stealth, when he was labor- 
ing to open a farm in the forest. His an- 
cestors, who were Quakers, went to Vir- 
ginia from Berks Co., Pa. An effort to 
identify them with the New England fam- 
ily of the same name ended in nothing 
more definite than a similarity of Chris- 
tian names in both families, such as Enoch, 
Levi, Mordecai, Solomon, Abraham,, and 
the like. 

"My father, at the death of his father, 
was but six years of age, and grew up 
literally without any education. He re- 
moved from Kentucky to what is now 
Spencer Co., Ind., in my eighth year. We 
reached our new home about the time the 
State came into the Union. It was a 
wild region, with many bears and other 
wild animals still in the woods. There I 
grew up. There were some schools, so- 
called, but no qualification was ever re- 
quired of a teacher beyond 'readin', writ- 
[55] 



Abraham Lincoln 

in', and ciphering ' to the rule of three. 
If a straggler, supposed to understand 
Latin, happened to sojourn in the neigh- 
borhood, he was looked upon as a wizard. 
There was absolutely nothing to excite am- 
bition for education. Of course, when I 
came of age I did not know much. Still, 
somehow, I could read, write, and cipher 
to the rule of three, but that was all. I 
have not been to school since. The little 
advance I now have upon this store of edu- 
cation I have picked up from time to 
time under the pressure of necessity. 

"I was raised to farm work, at which I 
continued till I was twenty-two. At 
twenty-one I came to Illinois;, and passed 
the first year in Mason County. Then I 
got to New Salem, at that time in Sanga- 
mon, now Menard County, where I re- 
mained a year as a sort of clerk in a store. 
Then came the Black Hawk War, and I 
was elected a captain of volunteers— a 
success which gave me more pleasure than 
any I have had since. I went into the 
campaign, was elected, ran for the Legis- 
lature the same year (1832), and was 
[56] 



The Greatest American 

beaten— the only time I have ever been 
beaten by the people. The next and three 
succeeding biennial elections I was elected 
to the Legislature. I was not a candidate 
afterward. During the legislative period 
I had studied law, and removed to Spring- 
field to practice it. In 1846 I was elected 
to the Lower House of Congress. Was not 
a candidate for re-election. From 1849 to 
18154, both inclusive, practiced law more 
assiduously than ever before. Always a 
Whig in politics, and generally on the 
Whig electoral ticket, making active can- 
vasses. I was losing interest in politics 
when the repeal of the Missouri Conxpro- 
mise aroused me again. What I have done 
since then isi pretty well known. 

"If any personal description of me is 
thought desirable, it may be said I am in 
height six feet four inches, nearly; lean 
in flesh, weighing, on an average, one hun- 
dred and eighty pounds; dark complex- 
ion, with coarse black hair and gray eyes 
—no other marks or brands recollected. 
"Yours very truly, 

"A. Lincoln/ ' 

[57] 



FIRST POLITICAL SPEECH- 
MISSOURI COMPROMISE 

Abraham Lincoln was twenty-three 
years of age when first a candidate for the 
Legislature, in 1832. In his first political 
speech, delivered in Sangamon County, 
Illinois, he said: 

"Gentlemen and fellow-citizens: I pre- 
sume you all know who I am. I am hum- 
ble Abraham Lincoln. I have been solic- 
ited by my friends to become a candidate 
for the Legislature. My politics are short 
and sweet. I am in favor of a national 
bank. I am in favor of the internal im- 
provement system, and a high protective 
tariff. These are my sentiments and politi- 
cal principles. If elected, I shall be thank- 
ful; if not, it will be all the same/' 

At that time, and many years later, it 
was the custom in Illinois for candidates 
to issue handbills giving an outline of the 
principles advocated, traveling around the 
country and speaking to the people. The 
[58] 



The Greatest American 

following on education, is declared to be 
the exact words on Mr. Lincoln's first 
handbill, dated March 9, 1832 : 

"Upon the subject of education, not 
promising to dictate any plan or system 
respecting it, I can only say that I view 
it as the most important subject which we 
as a people can be engaged in. That every 
man may receive at least a moderate edu- 
cation and thereby be enabled to read the 
histories of his own and other countries, 
by which he may duly appreciate the value 
of our free institutions, appears to be an 
object of vital importance even on this ac- 
count alone; to say nothing of the ad- 
vantages and satisfaction to be derived 
from all being able to read the Scriptures 
and other works, both of a religious and 
moral nature, for themselves. 

"For my part I desire to see the time 
when education— and by its means, moral- 
ity, sobriety, enterprise and industry— shall 
become much more general than at pres- 
ent; and I should be gratified to have it 
in my power to contribute something to 
[59] 



Abraham Lincoln 

the advancement of any measure which 
might have a tendency to accelerate the 
happy period. 

"Every man is said to have his peculiar 
ambition. Whether it be true or not, I 
can say, for one, that I have no other so 
great as that of being truly esteemed of 
my fellow-men. How far I shall succeed 
in gratifying this ambition is yet to be 
developed. I am young, and unknown to 
many of you. I was born, and have re- 
mained, in the most humble walks of life. 
I have no wealthy, popular relations or 
friends, to recommend me. My case is 
thrown exclusively upon the independent 
voters of the county; and, if elected, they 
will have conferred a favor upon me, for 
which I shall be unremitting in my labors 
to compensate. 

"But, if the good people in their wis- 
dom shall see fit to keep me in the back- 
ground, I have been too familiar with dis- 
appointment to be very much chagrined." 

These principles were also expressed in 
a speech at New Salem, to a large au- 
dience. 

[60] 



The Greatest American 

He was defeated in 1832, but elected to 
the Legislature in 1834, advocating the 
same principles, and expressing his convic- 
tion that— "Universal education should go 
along with the universal ballot." 

His keen, quick sense of the eternal 
Right and Just, made him the unswerving 
advocate of equal rights for all men and 
women. He favored what was then called 
"Woman's Rights," and often said: 
"This question is one simply of Time." 
In 1836, he issued another handbill, nam- 
ing certain things he desired and advo- 
cated. One was in these words, also an- 
nounced in the Sangamon Journal: "I go 
for all sharing the privileges of the Gov- 
ernment, who assist in bearing its bur- 
dens. Consequently, I go for admitting 
all whites to the rights of suffrage, who 
pay taxes, or bear arms, by no means ex- 
cluding females. 91 

It was the Missouri Compromise that 

stirred to the depths Abraham Lincoln's 

sense of justice to the negro, and brought 

forth in the first open determined stand at 

[61] 



Abraham Lincoln 

Peoria, 111., in a speech Oct. 16, 1854— 
nearly four years before the Lincoln-Doug- 
lass debates. 

"Repeal the Missouri Compromise— re- 
peal all compromise— and repeal the De- 
claration of Independence— repeal all past 
history— still you cannot repeal human 
nature. 

"The doctrine of self-government is 
right,— absolutely and eternally right,— 
but it has no just application as here at- 
tempted. Or perhaps I should rather say 
that whether it has such just application, 
depends upon whether a negro is not, or is 
a man. If he is not a man, in that case 
he who is a man, may as a matter of self- 
government do just what he pleases with 
him. But if the negro is a man, is it not 
to that extent a total destruction of self- 
government, to say that he too shall not 
govern himself ? When the white man gov- 
erns himself, that is self-government; but 
when he governs himself, and also governs 
another man, that is despotism. 

"Little by little, but steadily as man's 
[62] 



The Greatest American 

march to the grave, we have been giving 
up the old for the new faith. Near eighty 
years ago, we began by declaring that all 
men are created equal; but now from that 
beginning we have run down to the other 
declaration that for some men to enslave 
others is a 'sacred right of self-govern- 
ment.' These principles cannot stand to- 
gether. They are as God and Mammon. 

"Our republican robe is soiled and 
trailed in the dust. Let us purify it. Let 
us turn and wash it white, in the spirit, if 
not in the blood, of the Revolution. 

"Let us turn slavery from its claims of 
'moral right' back upon its existing legal 
rights, and its arguments of 'necessity.' 
Let us return it to the position our fathers 
gave it, and there let it rest in peace. 

"Let us re-adopt the Declaration of In- 
dependence, and the practices and policy 
which harmonize with it. Let North and 
South— let all Americans— let all lovers of 
liberty everywhere, join in the great and 
good work. 

"If we do this, we shall not only have 
[63] 



Abraham Lincoln 

saved the Union, but shall have so saved 
it, as to make and to keep it forever worthy 
of saving. We shall have so saved it that 
the succeeding millions of free, happy peo- 
ple, the world over, shall rise up and call 
us blessed, to the latest generations. ' ' 

In his fourth annual message to Con- 
gress, December 6, 1864, the President 
said: 

"I repeat the declaration, made a year 
ago, that while I remain in my present 
position I sjhall not attempt to retract or 
modify the Emancipation Proclamation, 
nor shall I return to slavery any person 
who is free by the terms of that Proclama- 
tion, or by any of the Acts of Congress. 

"If the people should, by whatever 
mode or means, make it an executive duty 
to re-enslave such persons, another, and 
not I, must be their instrument to per- 
form it. 

"In stating a single condition of peace, 
I mean simply to say, that the war will 
cease on the part of the government, when- 
ever it shall have ceased on the part of 
those who began it." 

[64] 



RIGHTS OF THE NEGRO— HIS 
FREEDOM 

That Abraham. Lincoln's interest in the 
slaves grew stronger, as the certainty of 
their freedom and saving of the Union 
became assured, is expressed in his own 
words— to General James S. Wadsworth— 
also the same year, 1864. 

"How to better the condition of the col- 
ored race has long been a study which has 
attracted my serious and careful atten- 
tion; hence I think I am clear and decided 
as to what course I shall pursue in the 
premises, regarding it as a religious duty, 
as the nation's guardian of these people 
who have so heroically vindicated their 
manhood on the battlefield, where, in as- 
sisting to save the life of the Republic, 
they have demonstrated their right to the 
ballot, which is but the humane protection 
of the Flag they have so fearlessly de- 
fended." 

[65] 

5 



Abraham Lincoln 

When a committee of freed slaves of 
Baltimore, went to the White House to 
present a Bible, he said in acceptance: 

"I can only say now, as I have often 
said before, that it has always been a sen- 
timent with me that all mankind should 
be free. So far as I have been able, or so 
far as came within my sphere, I have al- 
ways acted as I believed was right and 
just, and have done all I could for the 
good of mankind. I have, in letters and 
documents sent from this office, expressed 
myself better than I can now. 

"In regard to the Great Book, I have 
only to say that it is the best gift which 
God has given men. 

"All the good from the Saviour of the 
world is communicated to us through this 
book. But for this book we could not know 
right from wrong. All those things desir- 
able to man are contained in it." 

In August, 1855, Abraham Lincoln, even 
then, scarcely known away from the Illi- 
nois prairies, wrote to Hon. George Rob- 
ertson of Lexington, Kentucky: 
[66] 



The Greatest American 

"So far as peaceful, voluntary emanci- 
pation is concerned, the condition of the 
negro slave in America, scarcely less terri- 
ble to the contemplation of a free mind, 
is now as fixed and hopeless of change for 
the better, as that of the lost souls of the 
finally impenitent. 

"The Autocrat of all the Russias will 
resign his crown, and proclaim his sub- 
jects free Republicans, sooner than will 
our American masters voluntarily give up 
their slaves. 

"Our political problem now is— Can we 
as a nation continue together permanently 
— forever— half slave and half free? The 
problem is too mighty for me. May God 
in His mercy superintend the solution ! ' ' 

From the White House, in August, 1863, 
he sent the following letter to General N. 
P. Banks, with the army, then in Louisi- 
ana: 

"As an anti-slavery man, I have a mo- 
tive to desire emancipation which pro- 
slavery men do not have; but even they 
have strong reason to thus place them- 
[67] 



Abraham Lincoln 

selves again under the shield of the Union, 
and to thus perpetually hedge against the 
recurrence of the scenes through which we 
are now passing. . . . For my own part, 
I shall not, in any event, retract the Eman- 
cipation Proclamation; nor, as Executive, 
ever return to slavery any person who is 
freed by the terms of that Proclamation, 
or by any of the Acts of Congress." 

The dawn had broken. The sun was 
shining. Less than six months later— on 
January 11, 1864, another letter went 
from the White House to Louisiana- 
glowing with supreme satisfaction— the 
prophecy of patience, hope, and never 
wavering faith— fulfilled— in these words 
to the Governor of Louisiana: 

"I congratulate you on having fixed 
your name in history, as the first Free 
State Governor of Louisiana. Now you 
are about to have a convention, which, 
among other things, will probably define 
the elective franchise ; I barely suggest, for 
your private consideration, whether some 
of the colored people may not be let in, 
[68] 



The Greatest American 

as, for instance, the very intelligent, and 
especial^ those who have fought gallantly 
in our ranks. 

' ' They would probably help, in some try- 
ing time to come, to keep the jewel of lib- 
erty in the family of freedom." 



[69] 



STORY TELLING— RELIEF TO 
STRESS OF MIND 

Abraham Lincoln was not a story teller. 
But he had the happy faculty of always 
being ready with an anecdote, or illustra- 
tion, that was often a relief to the stress 
of the hour, or embarrassment of the situa- 
tion. 

Emerson said: "It was a rich gift to 
this wise man. It enabled him to keep his 
secret; to meet every kind of man and 
every rank of society; to take off the edge 
of the severest decisions; to mask his own 
purpose and sound his companion; to 
catch the true instinct and temper of 
every company addressed. And more than 
all, it is to a man of severe labor, in 
anxious and exhausting crisis, the natural 
restorative, and is the protection of the 
overdriven brain against rancor and in- 
sanity." 

In 1862, the people of New York City 
feared bombardment by Confederate cruis- 
[70] 



The Greatest American 

ers. A delegation of fifty, rich men, rep- 
resenting in their own right $100,000,000, 
went to Washington to see the President 
abont detailing a gunboat to protect the 
city. Mr. Lincoln was puzzled to know 
what to say to them, but said he would see 
them. David Davis, Associate Justice of 
the Supreme Court of the United States, 
and life long friend of Mr. Lincoln, pre- 
sented the delegation. They made an ap- 
peal for protection, and said they repre- 
sented the wealth of New York City— 
$100,000,000 in their own right. The 
President heard them attentively, and then 
with much courtesy, replied: 

" Gentlemen: I am, by the Constitu- 
tion, Commander-inChief of the Army 
and Navy of the United States, and as a 
matter of law I can order anything done 
that is practicable to be done. But as a 
matter of fact, I am not in command of 
the gunboats or ships of war. As a mat- 
ter of fact, I do not know exactly where 
they are, but presume they are actively 
engaged. It is impossible for me in the 
[71] 



Abraham Lincoln 

condition of things, to furnish you a gun- 
boat. The credit of the Government is at 
a very low ebb, greenbacks are not worth 
more than forty or fifty cents on the dol- 
lar. In this condition of things, if I was 
worth half as much as you gentlemen are 
represented to be, and as badly frightened 
as you seem to be, I would build a gunboat 
and give it to the Government," 

Justice Davis said he never saw 
$100,000,000 sink into such insignificant 
proportions, as it did when that New York 
delegation left the White House, sadder 
and probably wiser men. 

Just at that time, there were parties 
interested in cotton which it was difficult 
to bring up from certain insurrectionary 
districts, because of the contest between 
the civil and military authorities, as to 
the policy of bringing cotton out of the 
seceded states, permits being issued by 
the Treasury Department, which were nul- 
lified by the military. A party of gentle- 
men were at Willard's Hotel and were 
anxious to learn from the President, if 
[72] 



The Greatest American 

possible, what would be the probable re- 
sult of the contest, and requested a friend 
to broach the subject, on a visit to the 
White House. After talking with the 
President for some time on other matters, 
reference was made to the cotton subject, 
and he was asked how it would be likely 
to turn out. The moment the inquiry was 
made, a smile, amused and bright, lighted 
up Mr. Lincoln's face, and he said: 

"By the way, what has become of our 
friend, Robert Lewis?" 

He was informed that Mr. Lewis was 
still in his old home in Illinois, and Clerk 
of the Court, as he hiad been for many 
years. 

"Well," said the President, "do you 
remember a story Bob used to tell about 
going to Missouri, to look up some Mor- 
mon lands belonging to his father?" 

Lewis was a warm personal friend of 
Mr. Lincoln, who told the story that even- 
ing, with much enjoyment, and as he only 
could tell it. The story was in substance 
as follows: 

[73] 



Abraham Lincoln 

"When Bob Lewis became of age, he 
found among his father's papers some 
warrants and patents for lands in North- 
eastern Missouri, where attempts at Mor- 
mon settlement had been made. He 
thought the best thing he could do would 
be to look up these lands, see if they were 
worth anything, and establish his title. It 
was long before the day of railroads, and 
Bob started on horseback, equipped with a 
pair of old saddlebags, in one side of 
which he packed his papers, and in the 
other, some necessary articles of the toilet, 
but which Bob himself had said, made 
less bulk than his title papers. He trav- 
elled a long way round, but finally got 
into that part of Missouri where he 
thought he could locate his section of land, 
and, bringing up before a solitary cabin, 
hitched his horse, took his saddlebags, and 
knocked at the door. A gruff, and not 
hospitable voice bade him enter. The 
conspicuous objects, perhaps one might 
say ornaments— were the proprietor, a 
lean, lanky-looking man, who appeared to 
[74] 



The Greatest American 

Bob to be about eleven feet long, stretched 
before a big fireplace, ' necking' bullets; 
and above the fireplace hung on a couple 
of buck's horns was a rifle which also ap- 
peared to be about eleven feet long. The 
man looked up as Bob entered, but made 
no pause in his busy occupation of pre- 
paring bullets. Bob said he was the first 
to ' ' pass the time of day, ' ' and then he in- 
quired about the section of land on which 
the cabin was located. The proprietor 
knew nothing about that section, or any 
other in Missouri; and apparently was in- 
different to his visitor's desire for infor- 
mation. Finally Bob got out his papers, 
looked them over, and said: 

' ' ' Stranger, I am looking up some lands 
belonging to my father. I've got the 
titles all right here in these papers,' and he 
proceeded to prove it by reading the pa- 
pers aloud. When he had finished, he said : 
'Now that is my title to this section. What 
is yours?' 

"The proprietor of the cabin by this 
time showed a slight interest, stopped his 
[75] 



Abraham Lincoln 

work a moment, raised himself on his 
elbow, and pointing to the rifle, said: 

" 'Young man, do you see that gun?' 

"Mr. Lewis admitted he did, very 
frankly. 

" 'Well/ said the pioneer, 'that is my 
title, and if you don't get out of here 
pretty quick you will feel the force of it.' 

"Bob hurriedly put his papers in his 
saddlebags, dashed out of the cabin, 
mounted his pony and galloped down the 
road, though he declared the proprietor of 
the cabin snapped his gun twice at him 
before he turned the corner. But Bob never 
went back to disturb that man's title. 
Now, the military authorities have the 
same title against the civil authorities that 
closed out Bob's title to his Mormon lands 
in Missouri. The military have the guns. 
The gentlemen themselves may judge what 
the result is likely to be." 



[76] 



LABOR AND CAPITAL- 
LIBERTY DEFINED 

Abraham Lincoln made plain his stand 
for the rights of labor, in a speech at New 
Haven, Conn., March 6, 1860, one year be- 
fore he became President. 

"I am glad a system of labor prevails 
under which laborers can strike when they 
want to; where they are not obliged to 
work under all circumstances; and are not 
tied down and obliged to labor whether 
you pay them for it or not; I like the 
system which lets a man 'quit' when he 
wants to, and I wish it might prevail 
everywhere. ... I do not believe in a 
law to prevent a man getting rich; that 
would do more harm than good; so, while 
we do not propose any war upon capital, 
we do wish to allow the humblest an equal 
chance to get rich with everybody else. 
I want every man to have a chance to bet- 
ter his condition. That is the true system. 
... I am not ashamed to confess that 
[77] 



Abraham Lincoln 

25 years ago I was a hired laborer. . . . '•' 

In his first annual message to Congress, 
December 3, 1861, he deals with this ques- 
tion : 

"Labor is prior to and independent of 
capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, 
and could never have existed if labor had 
not first existed. Labor is the superior ol 
capital, and deserves much the higher con- 
sideration. Capital has its rights, which 
are as worthy of protection as any rights, 
nor is it denied that there is, and prob- 
ably always wall be, a relation between 
labor and capital, producing mutual bene- 
fits. 

"The prudent, penniless beginner in 
the world labors for wages for a while, 
saves a surplus with which to buy tools 
or land for himself, then labors on his 
own account another while, and at length 
hires another new beginner to help him. 

"This is the just, and generous, and 
prosperous system, which opens the way to 
all, gives hope to all, and consequent en- 
ergy, and progress, and improvement of 
[78] 



The Greatest American 

condition to all. No men living are more 
worthy to be trusted than those who toil 
up from poverty— none less inclined to 
take or touch aught which they have not 
honestly earned. 

"Let them beware of surrendering a 
political power which they already pos- 
sess, and which, if surrendered, will surely 
be used to close the door of advancement 
against such as they, and to fix new dis- 
abilities and burdens upon them., till all 
of liberty shall be lost." 

To a committee of the Workingmen's 
Association of New York, in an interview 
at the White House, March 21, 1864, he 
said : 

"The strongest bond of human sympa- 
thy, outside of the family relation, should 
be one uniting all working people, of all 
nations, and tongues, and kindreds. Nor 
should this lead to a war upon property, 
or the owners of property. Property is 
the fruit of labor; property is desirable; 
is a positive good to the world. That 
some should be rich shows that others may 
[79] 



Abraham Lincoln 

become rich, and, hence, is just encourage- 
ment to energy and enterprise. Let not 
him who is houseless, pull down the house 
of another; but let him labor diligently 
and build one for himself, thus by exam- 
ple assuring that his own shall be safe 
from violence when built." 

A month later he accepted an invitation 
to speak in Baltimore at a Charity Fair- 
three years after passing through that city 
secretly to escape assassination in the plot 
to take his life. In this address he said: 

"The world is in want of a good defini- 
tion of the word liberty. We all declare 
ourselves to be for liberty, but we do not 
all mean the same thing. Some mean that 
a man can do as he pleases with himself 
and his property. With others it means 
that some men can do as they please with 
other men and other men's labor. Each 
of these things is called liberty, although 
they are entirely different. To give an 
illustration: A shepherd drives the wolf 
from the throat of his sheep when attacked 
by him, and the sheep of course thanks 
[80] 



The Greatest American 

the shepherd for the protection of his life ; 
but the wolf denounces him as despoiling 
the sheep of his liberty— especially if it 
be a black sheep." 

A few days after his second election, 
in response to a serenade, he declared : 

"It has long been a grave question 
whether any government, not too strong 
for the liberties of the people, can be 
strong enough to maintain its existence in 
great emergencies. But the election . . . 
has demonstrated that a people's govern- 
ment can sustain a national election in 
the midst of a great Civil War. Until 
now, it has not been known to the world 
that this was a possibility." 

A proclamation to the Army and Navy, 
Nov. 15, 1862, sets aside the Sabbath as a 
day of rest and religious observance: 

"The importance for man and beast of 
the prescribed weekly rest, the sacred 
rights of Christian soldiers and sailors, a 
becoming deference to the best sentiments 
of a Christian people, and a due regard 
for the Divine will, demand that Sunday 
[81] 



Abraham Lincoln 

labor in the Army and Navy be reduced 
to the measure of strict necessity. 

"The discipline and character of the 
national forces should not suffer, nor the 
cause they defend be imperilled, by pro- 
fanation of the name, or the day of the 
Most High." 

On July 4, 1863, it is the success of the 
Union Arms— Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and 
the Mississippi : 

"The President announces to the coun- 
try that news from the army of the Poto- 
mac, up to 10 P. M. of the 3d, is such as 
to cover that army with the highest honor ; 
to promise a great success to the cause of 
the Union, and to claim the condolence of 
all for the many gallant fallen; and that 
for this he especially desires that on this 
day, He whose will, not ours, should ever be 
done, be everywhere remembered, and ever 
reverenced with profound gratitude." 



[82] 



THE FATHER OF WATERS AGAIN 
GOES UNVEXED TO THE SEA 

A month later, he wrote to J. C. Conk- 
ling, of Springfield, Iliinois: 

"The signs look better. The Father of 
Waters again goes unvexed to the sea. 
Thanks to the great Northwest for it; nor 
yet wholly to them. Three hundred miles 
up they met New England, Empire, Key- 
stone, and Jersey, hewing their way right 
and left. The sunny South, too, in more 
colors than one, also lent a helping hand. 
On the spot, their part of the history was 
jotted down in black and white. 

"The job was a great National one, 
and let no one be slighted who bore an 
honorable part in it. And while those who 
cleared the River may well be proud, 
even that is not all. It is hard to say that 
anything has been more bravely and well 
done than at Antietam, Murfreesboro, 
Gettysburg, and on many fields of less 
note." 

[83] 



Abraham Lincoln 

With the commission of Leutenant-Gen- 
eral of the Army, he said when presenting 
it to General Grant, March 9, 1864: 

"The nation's appreciation of what you 
have done, and its reliance upon you for 
what remains to be done in the existing 
great struggle, are now presented with this 
commission, constituting you Lieutenant- 
General of the Army of the United States. 
With this high honor devolves upon you 
also a corresponding responsibility. 

"As the country herein trusts you, so 
under God, it will sustain you. I scarcely 
need to add that, with what I here speak 
for the Nation, goes my own hearty per- 
sonal concurrence." 

To General Sheridan, he telegraphed 
October 22, 1864: 

"With great pleasure I tender to you 
and your brave Army, the thanks of the 
Nation, and my own personal admiration 
and gratitude, for the month's operation 
in the Shenandoah Valley, and especially 
for the splendid work of October 19, 
1864." 

[84] 



The Greatest American 

It was on October 19, that "Old Jubal," 
as General Sheridan called General Early, 
retreated from the Shenandoah Valley for 
good-completely defeated. The President 
sent the following dispatch to General 
Sherman in December, 1864 : 

"When you were about leaving Atlanta 
for the Atlantic Coast, I was. anxious, if 
not fearful; but feeling that you were the 
better judge, and remembering' that 'noth- 
ing risked, nothing gained,' I did not inter- 
fere. Now, the undertaking being a suc- 
cess, the honor is all yours; for I believe 
none of us went further than to ac- 
quiesce. ' ' 

Addressing the 148th Ohio Regiment, in 
the early part of the war, the President 
said, with great earnestness: 

"It is vain and foolish to arraign this 
man, or that, for the part he has taken or 
has not taken, and to hold the Government 
responsible for his acts. In no adminis- 
tration can there be perfect equality of 
action, and uniform satisfaction rendered 
by all. 

1851 



Abraham Lincoln 

"But this Government must be pre- 
served in spite of the acts of any man or 
set of men. It is worthy your every effort. 
Nowhere in the world is presented a gov- 
ernment of so much liberty and equality. 
To the humblest and poorest among- us 
are held out the highest privileges and po- 
sitions. The present moment finds me at 
the White House; yet there is as good a 
chance for your children, as there was for 
my father's. 

"Again I admonish you not to be turned 
from your stern purpose of defending our 
beloved country and its free institutions, 
by any arguments urged by ambitious and 
designing men, but stand fast to the Union 
and the old flag." 

Mindful of —"him who shall have borne 
the battle, and for his widow and for his 
orphan"— the President wrote to the 
Postmaster-General : 

"Yesterday little endorsements of mine 
went to you in two cases of postmaster- 
ships, sought for widows, whose husbands 
have fallen in the battles of this war. 
[86] 



The Greatest American 

These eases, occurring on the same day, 
brought me to reflect more attentively than 
I had before done as to what is fairly due 
from us here in the dispensing of patron- 
age toward the men who, by fighting our 
battles, bear the chief burden of saving 
our country. 

"My conclusion is that, other claims and 
qualifications being equal, they have the 
right, and this is especially applicable to 
the disabled soldier and the deceased sol- 
dier's family.' ' 

It was in the dark days of financial 
stress when the credit of the Government 
was at low ebb, and trying to dispose of 
the ten-forty bonds. Mr. Jay Cooke had 
come forward and taken a large amount 
of the bonds— the only banker, apparently, 
who at the moment had the patriotism and 
courage to do it. The bonds proved valu- 
able, and it was soon a fact that it was no 
risk to take them. Then it was that the 
other bankers felt reassured, and a dele- 
[87] 



Abraham Lincoln 

gation of bankers from New York and 
other parts of the country came to Wash- 
ington to see the President about the 
bonds. They first came to the Secretary 
of the Treasury, stated they were actuated 
by patriotic motives to save the credit of 
the Government, and desired an interview 
with Mr. Lincoln. The President said he 
would see the gentlemen, and shortly after 
they went over to the White House and 
were shown into the President's room. He 
looked very tired and worn— sat with his 
feet stretched out— resting them on the 
table he used for his desk. He arose at 
once, stepped forward, and the Secretary 
presented the bankers, the President shak- 
ing hands with each as introduced by 
name. Then, by way of explaining their 
business, the Secretary said: 

"Mr. President, these gentlemen have 
come to Washington from patriotic mo- 
tives—to help us save the credit of the 
Government. They want to buy our 
[88] 



The Greatest American 

bonds; they will put money in the treas- 
ury; and, Mr. President, you know, 'where 
the treasure is, there will the heart be 
also.' " 

Mr. Lincoln drew himself up, standing 
head and shoulders above all, and with a 
peculiar smile on his face, replied: 

"Yes, Mr. Secretary; but there is 
another passage of Holy Writ which you 
may remember— 'Where the carcass is, 
there will the eagles be gathered to- 
gether.' " 

To hold the Border States in the Union, 
a proposition had been made for gradual 
emancipation, by paying the owners of 
slaves in these states. A Conference with 
members of Congress from the Border 
States was held at the White House. At 
this Conference the President said : ' ' How 
much better for you and for your people 
to take the step which at once shortens the 
war, and secures substantial compensation 
for that which is sure to be wholly lost in 
any other way. How much better to thus 
[89] 



Abraham Lincoln 

save the money which else we sink forever 
in the war! How much better to do it 
while we can, lest the war ere long renders 
us peculiarly unable to do it. . How much 
better for you, as seller, and the Nation as 
buyer, to sell out and buy out, that with- 
out which the war would never have been, 
than to sink both the thing to be sold 
and the price of it in cutting one another's 
throats! I do not speak of emancipation 
at once but of decision at once to emanci- 
pote gradually." 

The Chairman of the Committee in Con- 
gress, dealing with the proposition, was 
John Gridley Crisfield, a member of the 
House of Representatives, from Maryland. 
The Border States held off, and finally as 
well known, rejected the proposition. In 
the meantime the Pesident sent for Mr. 
Crisfield to come to the White House. 

"How are you getting on with that busi- 
ness, Crisfield," he asked, "Have you 
made your report?" 

[90] 



The Greatest American 

Mr. Crisneld replied that the Committee 
was not ready to report. 

"Well, Crisfield," said the President, 
"You better get ready pretty soon. Niggers 
will never be a higher price than they are 
now." This was in July, a month before 
his letter to Horace Greeley, and just two 
months before he issued the Emancipation 
Proclamation. 



[9LJ 



THE LAWYER — FAVORITE 
HYMN 

Albraham Lincoln, it has been said, was 
a lawyer who "dealt with the deep philo- 
sophy of the law— an industrious lawyer— 
always knew the cases which might be 
quoted as absolute authority— moved 
cautiously, and never examined or cross- 
examined a witness to the detriment of his 
side— not aggressive in the defence of his 
doctrines, or opinions— but brave and fear- 
less in the protection of what he believed 
to be right." If a witness told the truth 
he was safe ; but woe betide the individual 
who suppressed or colored the truth. He 
constructed short sentences of small words 
—never wearied the mind with the mazes 
of elaboration— and his speeches to the 
jury were effective examples of forensic 
oratory— simple, pure gems of true elo- 
quence. The Circuit practice was in vogue 
in Illinois— in the early days, and the 
itinerant lawyer was sure to come with 
[92] 



The Greatest American 

the buds of spring or falling leaves of 
autumn. Among them all, Abraham Lin- 
coln was the star. 

Justice David Davis was the Judge of 
that District, and seemed always willing 
that Mr. Lincoln should illustrate a point 
with a story, even if it disturbed the grav- 
ity of the Court. The following account 
of a "celebrated case," was handed down 
by a life long friend of Mr. Lincoln and 
one of the two lawyers for the defense; 
Mr. Lincoln was the lawyer for the prose- 
cution. 

It was a suit for slander, in 1854, involv- 
ing a family quarrel, and was the sensation 
of what was at that time an obscure little 
village on the prairies. The two lawyers 
for the defense appeared and demurred 
to the declaration, which, to the great an- 
noyance of Mr. Lincoln, the Court sus- 
tained. Whatever interest he took in the 
case before that time, his professional 
pride was aroused by the fact that the 
Court had decided that his papers; were 
deficient. Looking across the trial table 

[93] 



Abraham Lincoln 

to the defense, and shaking his long finger, 
he said: "Now, by Jing, I will beat you 
boys." 

"By Jing" was the extent of his exple- 
tives, and beyond that he did not go in 
the expression of his surprise or indigna- 
tion. 

The plaintiff in the case was a native of 
Tennessee, and a few years before the 
bringing of the suit had married the sister 
of the defendant. He was very dark in 
complexion, but bore no traces of having 
African blood in his veins beyond his color. 
The defendant for some reason had fallen 
out with him and being an ignorant and 
violent man, circulated the report that he 
was a "nigger," and in connection with 
that statement said he had married a white 
woman. The statute of Illinois made it a 
crime for a negro to marry a white woman, 
and because of that, the words were slan- 
derous. These were the words complained 
of in the declaration, as a lawyer would say. 

At the next term of the Court, Mr. Lin- 
coln appeared with his papers amended, 
[04] 



The Greatest American 

and fully determined to make good his 
promise to "beat you boys." None who 
saw him ever forgot his appearance as he 
rose to state his case to the jury. He was 
not excited, but manifested a great earn- 
estness not only because of his client, but 
he also wanted to redeem himself from the 
implication arising from the fact that he 
had been as the lawyers say, "demurred 
out of Court." Those present long after 
recalled some of his opening sentences: 

"Gentlemen of the Jury: I do not be- 
lieve that the best way to build and main- 
tain a good reputation is to go to law 
about it; and during my practice at the 
Bar it has been my uniform policy to 
discourage slander suits. But, gentlemen, 
in this case forbearance has ceased to be a 
virtue; and this Court room, dedicated to 
the sacred cause of justice, is the only 
place where my client can seek protection 
and vindication. If the malice of the de- 
fendant had rested satisfied with speaking 
the words once, or twice, or even thrice, 
my client would have borne it in silence- 
[95] 



Abraham Lincoln 

but when he went from house to house 
'gabbling' about it, then it was that the 
plaintiff determined to bring this suit." 

They said the word "gabbling" as en- 
phasized by Mr. Lincoln, was as splendid 
in its dramatic effect, as the word "fail" 
in Richelieu, when uttered by Booth, or 
Barrett. 

In the argument of the case on the 
testimony, Mr. Lincoln made a most 
powerful and remarkable speech, abound- 
ing in wit, logic, and eloquence of the 
highest order. His thoughts were clothed 
in the simplest garb of expression, and 
understood by every juror in the box. 
After the instructions were given by the 
Court, the jury retired, and in a few mo- 
ments returned with a judgment for the 
plaintiff for the full amount claimed in 
the declaration. After the rendition of 
the verdict, the lawyers for the defense 
sought Mr. Lincoln and said: "You have 
beaten us, as you said you would; we 
want now to ground the weapons of our 
unequal warfare, and as you have said, 
[96] 



The Greatest American 

your client did not want to make money- 
out of the matter, we thought you might 
get him to remit some of the judgment." 

"Well," said Mr. Lincoln, "I will 
cheerfully advise him to remit on the most 
favorable terms. The defendant is a fool, 
but he has worked hard for what he has, 
and I am not disposed to hold him re- 
sponsible for that. If every fool was to 
be dealt with by being held responsible 
in money, for his folly, the poor-houses 
of the country would have to be enlarged 
very much beyond their present capacity. ' ' 

Upon the suggestion and recommenda- 
tion of Mr. Lincoln, his client proposed to 
settle upon the terms of the defendant's 
paying his fee and costs of the suit, and 
Mr. Lincoln proposed to leave the amount 
of his fee to the lawyers of the defendant. 
They declined to pass upon that question. 
After a moment Mr. Lincoln said : "Well, 
gentlemen, don't you think I have honestly 
earned twenty-five dollars?" The lawyers 
were very much astonished at the very 
small fee. One hundred dollars was nearer 
[97] 
7 



Abraham Lincoln 

the fee expected, and they expressed them- 
selves not only satisfied but surprised. 
Considering that the judgment was a large 
one for those days, that he had attended 
the case at two terms of Court, that he 
had been engaged two days in a hotly 
contested law suit, and that his client's 
adversary was to pay the bill— the sim- 
plicity of his character in money matters 
is well illustrated, by the fact that for all 
this he charged twenty -five dollars. 

It was in 1859, while Attorney for the 
Illinois Central (Railroad, that in connec- 
tion with C. H. Moore of the Clinton Bar, 
Mr. Lincoln attended to the litigation of 
the Company. He appeared in one case 
which the Company did not want to try 
at that term, and remarked to the Court: 
"We are not ready for trial." 

Judge Davis asked: "Why is not the 
Company ready to go to trial?" 

Mr. Lincoln replied: "We are embar- 
rassed by the absence, or rather want of 
information from Captain McClellan." 

"Who is Captain McClellan, and why 
is he not here?" asked Judge Davis. 
[98] 



The Greatest American 

Mr. Lincoln said: "All I know of him 
is that he is the Engineer of the Railroad, 
and why he is not here, deponent saith 
not." 

In consequence of Captain McClellan's 
absence the case was continued. Abraham 
Lincoln and George B. McClellan had 
never met up to that time, and the most 
they knew of each other was, that one 
was the Attorney and the other the En- 
gineer of the Illinois Central Railroad. In 
little more than two years from that day 
the fame of both had spread as wide as 
civilization, and each held in his grasp the 
fate of a Nation. The lawyer was direct- 
ing Councils and Cabinets, and the engi- 
neer, subordinate to the lawyer as Com- 
mander-in-Chief, was directing armies 
greater than the combined forces of Wel- 
lington and Napoleon, at Waterloo. 

In the same year, during a term of 
Court, an incident brought out Abraham 
Lincoln's favorite Hymn— "Mortality"— 
so widely known by the first line— "Oh, 
why should the spirit of mortal be 
proud ! ' ' 

[99] 



Abraham Lincoln 

The story was told by his life long 
friend, the late Judge Lawrance Weldon, 
whose affection and loyalty for Mr. Lin- 
coln made him happy when relating inci- 
dents of their early friendship and legal 
association on the Illinois prairies. 

"The Court was held at the little Vil- 
lage of Lincoln, named for him. Judge 
David Davis and all the lawyers stopped 
at the not spacious Hotel— or as we said 
in pioneer days— "put up at the tavern." 
There was a very big room, with four beds, 
called the "lawyers' room." Some of us 
thin fellows doubled up ; but Judge Davis, 
who was as large then as afterward, when 
a Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
United States, always had a bed to him- 
self. Mr. Lincoln was an early riser, and 
one morning, when up early as usual and 
dressed, he sat before the big old fashioned 
fireplace, and repeated aloud from memory 
that whole Hymn— fourteen verses. Some- 
body asked him for the name of the 
Author; he said he had never been able to 
learn who wrote it, but wished he knew. 
[100] 



The Greatest American 

Nobody in the room could tell ; but I know 
that I, and I will venture to say that all 
the rest, soon after looked it up— so im- 
pressed were all by its beauty, when he 
repeated it that morning. I remember 
there were many guesses about the author, 
and some said Shakespeare must have 
written it. Mr. Lincoln, who was better 
read in Shakespeare than any of us, said 
they were not Shakespeare's words. I made 
a persistent hunt for the name of the 
author, and years after found the Hymn 
was written by William Knox, an English- 
man, who was born in 1789, and died in 
1825. 

"I have always felt that the Hymn 
would not have been quite the same had 
anybody but Abraham Lincoln spoken the 
words. The Hymn seemed to fit the man. 
How long ago it was! But I see him now, 
sitting before the big fireplace. It comes 
back to me, as if only yesterday— that sad- 
ness even then on his face— the strange 
forceful gentleness we all felt, but did not 
understand. ' ' i 

[101] 



Abraham Lincoln 

Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud! 
Like a fast-flitting meteor, a fast-flying cloud, 
A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave, 
He passes from life to his rest in the grave. 

The leaves of the oak and the willow shall fade, 

Be scattered around and together be laid; 

And the young and the old, and the low and the 

high, 
Shall moulder to dust and together shall lie. 

The child that a mother attended and loved, 
The mother that infant's affection that proved, 
The husband that mother and infant that blessed, 
Each, all, are away to their dwelling of rest. 

The maid on whose cheek, on whose brow, in 

whose eye, 
Shone beauty and pleasure — her triumphs are by; 
And the memory of those that beloved her and 

praised, 
Are alike from the minds of the living erased. 

The hand of the King that the sceptre hath borne, 
The brow of the priest that the mitre hath worn, 
The eye of the sage, and the heart of the brave, 
Are hidden and lost in the depth of the grave. 

The peasant whose lot was to sow and to reap, 
The herdsman who climbed with his goats to the 

steep, 
The beggar that wandered in search of his bread, 
Have faded away like the grass that we tread. 

The saint that enjoyed the communion of heaven, 
The sinner that dared to remain unforgiven, 
The wise and the foolish, the guilty and just, 
Have quietly mingled their bones in the du9t. 

[102] 



The Greatest American 

So the multitude goes, like the flower and the 

weed, 
That wither away to let others succeed; 
So the multitude comes, even those we behold, 
To repeat every tale that hath often been told. 

For we are the same that our fathers have been; 
We see the same sights that our fathers have 



We drink the same stream, and we feel the same 

sun, 
And we run the same course that our fathers 

have run. 

The thoughts we are thinking our fathers would 

think j 
From the death we are shrinking they, too, would 

shrink ; 
To the life we are clinging to, they, too would 

cling; 
But it speeds from the earth like a bird on the 

wing. 

They loved, but their story we cannot unfold; 
They scorned, but the heart of the haughty is 

cold; 
They grieved, but no wail from their slumbers 

may come; 
They joyed, but the voice of their gladness is 

dumb. 

They died — ay! they died; and we things that 

are now, 
Who walk on the turf that lies over their brow, 
Who make in their dwelling a transient abode, 
Meet the changes they met on their pilgrimage 

road. 

[103] 



Abraham Lincoln 

Yea! hope and despondency, pleasure and pain, 
Are mingled together like sunshine and rain; 
And the smile and the tear and the song and the 

dirge 
Still follow each other, like surge upon surge. 

'Tis the wink of an eye, 'tis the draught of a 

breath, 
From the blossom of health to the paleness of 

death, 
From the gilded saloon to the bier and the 

shroud — 
Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud? 



[104] 



CITY POINT— LAST DAYS- 
HISTORY 

Forty-four years ago Abraham Lincoln 
died by the hand of an assassin. Five days 
before, on Sunday, April 9, the war ended 
with the surrender of the armies of North- 
ern Virginia. That Sunday evening the 
President returned to Washington from 
City Point, where he had gone two weeks 
before. Ostensibly, his trip was one of 
recreation and rest from the cares and 
anxieties with which he was overwhelmed, 
and with the terrible strain of the four 
years, had worn out even his rugged 
strength. Apparently it was a sudden im- 
pulse on the part of the President. No 
preparations were made beforehand, and 
nothing was known at the "White House 
of the intended trip until a few hours be- 
fore he started. 

About noon on March 23 the President 
sent for one of the four men detailed as 
his personal guard, to come to his office. 
[105] 



Abraham Lincoln 

When the man answered the summons he 
found the President seated at his desk, in 
the center of the room. 

"Crook, I am going to City Point to- 
night. I want you to go with me. Make 
your preparations at once, and meet me at 
the boat." 

This was the brief announcement, but 
the words were followed by a deep sigh, 
and the man observed that the President's 
sad face had more than its usual weary, 
troubled expression. 

At five o'clock the River Queen, com- 
manded by Captain Bradford, left the Sev- 
enth Street wharf for City Point, with the 
President, Mrs. Lincoln and maid, Tad 
Lincoln, William Crook, and a man ser- 
vant, on board. During the journey down 
the river the President's depressed, ab- 
stracted manner was very marked, and 
afterwards frequently recalled by Crook, 
long since the only survivor of the little 
party. The President seemed weighed down 
by a burden heavier than the gloom of 
War and his daily responsibilities. Now 
[106] 




The President and Tad 



The Greatest American 

and then, by a giant effort, he would shake 
off the depression with some bit of quaint 
humor in a characteristic anecdote, or 
more readily enter into Tad's boyish 
amusements. 

Tad Lincoln was at that time about 
twelve years of age. He was a handsome 
boy, impulsive and winning. His devotion 
to his father was outspoken, and it was re- 
turned twofold by the President, who 
never denied the boy a single wish. At 
the White House there was no restraint 
or concealment of the mutual affection. 
Tad would often bound into his father's 
arms, and the President would caress and 
carry him about like a baby. Not infre- 
quently the President was made the victim 
of Tad's boyish pranks, but he enjoyed the 
fun all the more when the "joke" was on 
himself. 

The President's life was full of anx- 
ieties and sorrows of the hour, and the 
boy's sweetness and cheery ways were like 
sunshine through the clouds. Harassed 
and distressed by daily cares, he found 
rest and pleasure in Tad 's youthful spirits 
[107] 



Abraham Lincoln 

and society. The President once said: 
"When all the world seems hard, I still 
have Tad." An impediment in the boy's 
speech gave special tenderness to the Pres- 
ident's love for him. Tad had things pretty 
much his own way in the private part of 
the "White House. His little bed was in 
the President's chamber, and there he 
slept within reach' of his father's hand. 
Just across the hall a large room had been 
given up for his exclusive use. This was 
his play room, or "theater" as he liked to 
call it. The attendants about the "White 
House were the boy's loyal subjects. If 
he was autocratic and exacting, he was 
irresistibly sweet and generous, and the 
men enjoyed his youthful tyranny. They 
put up the "scenery" for his "theater" 
and he often persuaded some of the sol- 
diers stationed in the grounds, when off 
duty, to come in and play "show" with 
him. He was proud of his own uniform 
and cared but little for his ' ' civil clothes, ' ' 
Though a general favorite with strangers 
and so greatly indulged by his parents, 
[108] 



The Greatest American 

the boy was singularly unspoiled. Young 
as he was he possessed the traits which 
made him companionable to his elders. In 
one respect alone, Tad resembled his 
father. When his face was in repose, his 
large, dreamy gray eyes showed the same 
sad expression always seen in the Presi- 
dent 's eyes. He was named Thomas, for his 
Grandfather Lincoln. But his father was 
responsible for the pet name of Tad, 
which clung to him through all his short 
life. Whenever it was possible for Tad to 
go anywhere with his father he was never 
denied the pleasure. On this trip down 
the river he was the life and brightness of 
the party. He at once made friends with 
the sailors, and was allowed the freedom 
of the boat, just as he had his way every- 
where. There was no part of the steamer 
that he did not explore, whether it was 
at the heels of the engineer, or "playing 
pilot" in the pilot house. Tad looked 
forward with childish delight to going to 
the front, where there was "real war," of 
which he had heard so much. The trip 
[109] 



1 Abraham Lincoln 

was a red letter day in the boy's life, and 
one of the few happy days he was destined 
to enjoy with his idolized father. 

While at City Point the party lived on 
the boat. The President and General 
Grant were in frequent consultation, often 
in morning walks on the deck of the River 
Queen. Mr. Lincoln's tall, angular form 
seemed taller, and more angular by con- 
trast with the short, compact figure of 
General Grant, who was invariably smok- 
ing his cigar. 

Their personal acquaintance had been 
slight, but from the first there was a per- 
fect confidence, mutual sympathy, and 
harmiony of plans. Their first meeting was 
about a year before, when General Grant 
went to the White House, March 9, 1864, 
to receive from the President's hand, his 
commission as Lieutenant-General of the 
Armies of the United States. The year be- 
fore that, July 13, 1863, the President 
wrote the following to General Grant: 

"I do not remember that you and I 
ever met personally. I write this now as a 
[110] 



The Greatest American 

grateful acknowledgment for the almost 
inestimable service you have done the 
country. 

"I write to say a word further. When 
you first reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, 
I thought you should do what you finally 
did— march the troops across the neck, 
run the batteries with the transports, and 
thus go below; and I never had any faith, 
except a general hope, that you knew bet- 
ter than I, that the Yazoo Pass expedition, 
and the like, could succeed. When you 
got below and took Port Gibson, Grand 
Gulf and vicinity, I thought you should 
go down the river and join General Banks ; 
and when you turned northward, east of 
the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. 

"I now wish to make the personal ac- 
knowledgment that you were right, and I 
was wrong.' ' 

The memorable council of the President, 
General Grant, General Sherman and 
Admiral Porter, on board the River 
Queen March 27, followed in quick suc- 
cession by the advance of the Union 
[ill] 



Abraham Lincoln 

forces, the fall of Petersburg, the evacua- 
tion of Richmond, the retreat and sur- 
render of General Lee, are all matters of 
history. The review of the troops by the 
President on the day after his arrival, is 
not without personal interest and incident. 
The review was about three miles from City 
Point, on the road to Petersburg, where 
a few days later the Confederate lines were 
surrounded by the Union Army. The Presi- 
dent rode out with General Grant and 
Staff to the headquarters of General 
Meade. He was mounted on the small 
black horse "Jeff Davis" captured from 
the enemy, and said to have been Mrs. 
Davis' saddle horse. Mr. Lincoln's tall 
form rose high above the pony's back — 
his feet almost touched the ground, and 
his whole appearance was ludicrous and 
amused the soldiers. Tad was mounted 
and in care of Crook. The lad rode with 
fearless courage and was full of childish 
excitement at the prospect of seeing so 
many soldiers. The review proved to be 
more than the mere display of marching 
[112] 



The Greatest American 

men. The skirmishing along the lines, and 
bursting shells dangerously near, caused a 
feeling of anxiety for the President's 
safety, and before it was over, General 
Grant gave the signal to leave the grounds. 
But through it all, no soldier in the ranks 
was) cooler and braver under fire than 
Tad Lincoln. 

A little excursion up the Appomattox 
River made the single diversion and social 
feature of the President's stay at City 
Point. It was on Sunday afternoon, one 
Week before the surrender. The company 
included the President, General Grant and 
staff, Admiral Porter, Mrs. Lincoln, Mrs. 
Grant, Fred Grant, then a lad of sixteen, 
Tad Lincoln and Crook. The party went 
up on the small headquarter boat, landed 
at Point of Rocks, and went over to the 
" Crow's Nest." The chief attraction here 
was a magnificent English Oak, whose 
story was told the visitors by a group of 
natives. Pocahontas had saved the life of 
Captain John Smith under this tree. The 
legend, therefore, had saved the tree while 
[113] 



Abraham Lincoln 

all its companions had fallen by the wood- 
man 's axe. When the black people were 
told that the tall mian was really "Massa 
Linkum" they gazed at the President with 
open-eyed wonder and reverent curiosity. 
The day was full of sunshine, and here the 
desolation and horrors of war could not 
spread their pall over Nature's gladness, 
bursting forth in the first buds of the 
early Spring. The banks of the Appomat- 
tox were a shimmer of green, and gorgeous 
color of wild flowers, and the branches of 
the dogwood threw the fragrance of its 
white blossoms over the passing boat. It 
was almost a pleasure trip, and the one 
peaceful day of the President's visit, 
holding the nearest approach to forgetful- 
ness of the war. 

The next morning a rough looking man 
in citizen's dress suddenly appeared on 
board of the Kiver Queen, and going to 
Captain Bradford, asked to see the Presi- 
dent. His clothes were dusty and travel 
worn, and his whole appearance indicated 
that he had made a long journey on foot. 
[114] 



The Greatest American 

He showed signs of great fatigue and re- 
pressed excitement. When told he must 
state his business with the President, he 
became nervous and impatient. He said 
he was from, Illinois, and had come a long 
way to see Mr. Lincoln. "The President 
knew my father out there, and I did him 
a service once," he added, giving a name 
which he declared was well known to Mr. 
Lincoln. 

Captain Bradford was not prepossessed 
in the man's favor, but he referred him to 
Crook, who carried his message to the 
President. 

"I don't know such a man and never 
knew him. No, Crook, I can't see him," 
was Mr. Lincoln's reply. When this an- 
swer was taken to the would-be visitor, 
he grew more nervous and excited. He 
insisted, and begged Crook to try again 
and to urge the President to see him, re- 
peating very earnestly that it was a mat- 
ter of great importance. When Crook 
went to the President a second time the 
latter seemed much disturbed and firmly 
[115] 



Abraham Lincoln 

refused to see the man. His refusal was 
again carried back, and now the man's 
disappointment showed itself in desperate, 
reckless anger, as he said fiercely: "If I 

could see him he'd know me d d 

quick!" With these words he turned and 
instantly left the boat. 

[Recovering from the surprise caused by 
this unexpected turn, Capt, Bradford at 
once made search for the stranger, who 
was not to be found. No one had seen 
him go on or off the boat, and, though 
the search was continued and thorough, 
there was no trace of him anywhere in the 
vicinity. Added precautions for the Presi- 
dent 's safety were taken by the Captain. 
Crook, who was always armed, was doubly 
watchful, but Mr. Lincoln himself was not 
aware of it. Had the man succeeded in 
reaching the President, there is little doubt 
that the River Queen would have been the 
scene of the assassination instead of 
Ford's Theater. 

On March 29, General Grant moved his 
headquarters from City Point, in accord- 
[116] 




Gen. Grant, at Headquarters, City Point, 1865 



The Greatest American 

ance with the forward movement of the 
Army and the attack to be made on 
Petersburg the following night. On the 
evening before, the President said: "Gen- 
eral, if you leave tomorrow, I think I will 
return to Washington." 

"Better stay a few days longer, Mr. 
President. You are protected by my 
troops. You know this is my base of sup- 
plies, and you can be comfortable here 
living on the boat, ' ' replied General Grant. 
Then with a quiet sm(ile on his face he 
added : "Why not stay a few days longer, 
and— visit Richmond?" He said this as 
coolly and with the same confidence in 
the tone of his voice as if speaking of vis- 
iting any city on some ordinary sight- 
seeing trip. The President looked up in 
quick surprise, his face full of serious in- 
terest, but seeing the smile on General 
Grant's face, asked in a light tone: "How 
long do you think I will have to stay to 
do that, General?" 

"Oh, a few days— perhaps a week— but 
not longer, I think. I hope you will stay, 
[117] 



Abraham Lincoln 

Mr. President," answered General Grant, 
as he gave two or three puffs at his cigar. 

''Well, if I can visit Richmond within 
a week, I will remain. I guess they can 
get along without me in Washington a 
week longer. The most of the work seems 
to be down this way just now, anyhow," 
replied the President with a touch of dry 
humor, and settling back in his chair, as 
if relieved by the decision to stay. They 
were at the Headquarters, and several 
Staff Officers present recalled this half 
jesting conversation a few days later, and 
referred to General Grant's words as, "the 
old man's prophecy." 

Five days later the Stars and Stripes 
floated over Richmond, and the following 
day the President visited the Confederate 
Capital. It was from a little girl he re- 
ceived the first token of peace. She was 
younger than Tad, and came in with a 
bunch of flowers in her hand. In a shy 
way the child looked from one to another 
without speaking. Then she looked up at 
the President with a wistful, half timid 
[118] 



The Greatest American 

gaze, and, meeting his answering smile, 
stepped forward and placed the flowers in 
his hand. She had unconsciously chosen 
white flowers, emblematical of that peace 
which was soon to bless the land. Every- 
one felt the sweetness of the little girl's 
welcome, and the President, who was much 
touched by it, putting his hand gently on 
her head, bent down and kissed her. Then, 
turning to the officers, as his sad face grew 
bright for the moment,, he said : ' ' This is 
the first token of peace, and a sincere one, 
too." 

When the colored people followed him 
along the streets, dropping on their knees, 
he said: 

"Don't kneel to me— that is not right. 
You must kneel to God only, and thank 
Him for the liberty you will hereafter 
enjoy. I am but God's humble instru- 
ment; but you may rest assured that as 
long as I live no one shall put a shackle 
on your limbs, and you shall have all the 
rights which God has given to every other 
free citizen of this Republic." 
[119] 



Abraham Lincoln 

On Saturday, the day fixed for his re- 
turn to Washington, the President visited 
the hospitals at City Point, shaking hands 
with several thousand soldiers. His pres- 
ence caused mfuch enthusiasm, the cer- 
tainty of General Lee's surrender having 
already had its cheering effect. In a little 
speech he said: 

"I have come to see the boys who have 
fought the battles of the country, and par- 
ticularly the battles which resulted in the 
evacuation of Richmond. I desire to take 
these men by the hand, as it will probably 
be my last opportunity of meeting them." 

That evening crowds gathered at the 
wharf to see the President off, and the 
River Queen moved out while the bands 
played, soldiers cheered and flags were 
flying. Mr. Lincoln stood on the deck, 
bowing and smiling his good bye, and the 
women waved their handkerchiefs till City 
Point was lost to sight in the darkness. 
The President was in good spirits. Such 
glorious resultsi had been achieved during 
his two weeks at the front that, despite 
[120] 



The Greatest American 

the anxiety and tremendous strain upon 
him, he was going back to Washington 
rested by the change. His humor showed 
itself in several amusing stories, told in 
his happiest vein. The next day, as the 
party sat on deck, the leaders of the re- 
bellion were discussed and the probabili- 
ties of Jefferson Davis's capture led to 
the question whether he could, after all, 
be tried for treason. 

"Well," said Mr. Lincoln, settling back 
in his chair and looking smilingly out 
upon the water: "That reminds me of 
the boy and the coon I once Saw in Illi- 
nois. I was going down to my office one 
morning when I saw a boy sitting on the 
sidewalk just outside of a gate. He had 
a small coon, which he held by a rope 
round its neck. The boy was crying, and 
I of course stopped and asked what was 
the matter. 'Mister,' he answered, wiping 
the tears off with his sleeve, 'do you see 
that coon there?' I said I did. 'Well, 
Mister, do you see that rope?' he asked. 
Again I replied in the affirmative, when he 
[121] 



Abraham Lincoln 

said, still sobbing: 'Now, Mister, that coon 
has been gnawing that rope to get away. 
I've been watching him all the morning, 
and Mister, I'm dogged if I don't wish 
the rascal would just gnaw through and 
go.'" 

Tad, who was sitting by his father, 
asked with eager interest: "Oh, father, 
why didn't he put a chain on the coon? 
A chain would hold a coon." 

"Well, Tad," replied the President, "I 
guess the boy hadn't any chain." Then, 
turning to the laughing group before him, 
he added: "Now, it's a question whether 
we h&ve a law that would hold Jefferson 
Davis. If we haven't, it would be less 
trouble to just let him gnaw through and 
go." 

The President arrived in Washington 
at six o'clock Sunday evening, and found 
at the White House a dispatch from Gen- 
eral Grant telling him of the surrender 
that day. The news had already gone out 
from the War Department, and the city 
was trembling with joyous excitement. 
[122] 



The Greatest American 

On Monday morning, all business was sus- 
pended, and before noon the rejoicing 
reached the highest pitch of enthusiasm all 
over the city, as it did throughout the 
North wherever the wires had flashed the 
report. Clerks left their desks in the va- 
rious Government departments by common 
consent, and gathered in front of the 
White House, where they sang "Old Hun- 
dred" and "The Star Spangled Banner." 
Then going over to the War Department 
Building they sang "Rally Round the 
Flag" till Secretary Stanton appeared 
bringing out General Halleck to make a 
speech. Mr. Stanton had, at 10 o'clock the 
night before, issued an order for the firing 
of salutes at all army headquarters, de- 
partments, and the Military Academy at 
West Point. 

As the crowd increased at the White 
House a band of music was added. The 
President camje out on the portico and 
made some remarks, saying he would re- 
serve his speech till the evening fixed for 
a formal celebration. Then in a facetious 
tone he said: "I see you have a band of 
[123] 



Abraham Lincoln 

music with you. I have always thought 
that 'Dixie' was one of the best tunes I 
ever heard. Our adversaries over the way 
I know, have attempted to appropriate it. 
But I insist that yesterday we fairly cap- 
tured it. I referred the question to the 
Attorney General, and he gave it as his 
legal opinion that it is now our property. 
I ask the band to play 'Dixie' this morn- 
ing." The band at once struck up "Dixie" 
amid the laughter and cheers of the people. 
On Friday morning Robert Lincoln ar- 
rived from City Point, and went directly 
home to the White House, where he took 
breakfast with his father. The President 
wished his son to adopt the profession of 
law and that morning talked with him on 
plans for his future. Robert Lincoln had 
gone as a Captain, on General Grant's 
staff, immediately after graduating from 
Harvard, and it was just before starting 
for the Front, that he met for the first 
time Miss Mary Harlan, who was spend- 
ing her school vacation with her parents, 
at the National Hotel, in Washington. 

[124] 



The Greatest American 

Whether it was a case of love at first sight 
with the young officer and the lovely 
daughter of Senator Harlan or not, it is 
certain that Mrs. Lincoln soon discovered 
her son's preference, and was so much 
pleased, that she not only encouraged the 
course of true love to run smoothly, but 
set her heart upon making Miss Harlan 
her son's wife. And in all the changes 
of after years, Mrs. Lincoln never changed 
toward her daughter-in-law, for whom she 
held as long as she lived, a constant and 
sincere affection. 

During the conversation with his son 
that Good Friday morning, the President 
talked of the war and the events of the 
surrender, as related by Captain Lincoln. 
A photograph of General Lee happened to 
lie on a table near, and the President see- 
ing this, took it up and studying the face 
for a moment, said earnestly: 

"Yes, that is a fine face. There can be 
no mistake in that face. It indicates the 
character of the man." 

This was the last conversation [Robert 
[125] 



Abraham Lincoln 

Lincoln had with his father. All that day 
the President was occupied with crowds 
of visitors till the hour of the Cabinet 
meeting and they did not meet again till 
in the evening at dinner. At this Cabinet 
meeting, the last held by Mr. Lincoln, all 
the members were present except Mr. Sew- 
ard, the Secretary of State, who had a 
few days before been thrown from his 
carriage and severely injured. General 
Grant was present sitting in Mr. Seward's 
chair, and the others around the table 
were, Secretary of War, Stanton; Secre- 
tary of the Navy, Welles; Secretary of 
the Treasury, McCulloch; Attorney Gen- 
eral Speed; Secretary of the Interior, 
Otto; and Postmaster-General, Randall. 
In discussing the surrender, the President 
referred most kindly to General Lee, 
whose example he believed would have a 
good influence throughout the South. Gen- 
eral Grant also expressed this opinion, and 
said he felt sure that the surrender of all 
armed forces in the Southern States would 
quickly follow. The President was in the 
[126] 



The Greatest American 

best of spirits, and talked in a bright, 
hopeful tone of plans for reconstructing 
the rebellious States. He proposed no 
harsh measures and no retaliatory steps as 
punishment for the South, where impov- 
erished, desolated homes, and exhausted 
industries were already a terrible retribu- 
tion. His nature was so singularly free 
from all vindictiveness, and so magnani- 
mous in its charity, that he thought only of 
restoring to the country a united people 
and an undivided government. The terms 
of surrender proposed by General Grant 
had been known to the President before- 
hand, but at this Cabinet meeting they 
were cordially approved by the President's 
advisers without a dissenting voice, the Sec- 
retary of War, Mr. Stanton, readily in- 
dorsing General Grant's wise action, in 
making the terms both liberal and just. 

The President was not inclined to go to 
the theater that evening, but went to 
please Mrs. Lincoln, who had invited a 
party, including General and Mrs. Grant, 
and had engaged a box. Feeling very anxi- 

[127] 



Abraham Lincoln 

ous to see their children, at school in New 
Jersey, they went away on the evening 
train, instead of waiting till morning as at 
first intended. When the family met at din- 
ner, the President, expressed much regret, 
and said the people would be greatly dis- 
appointed not to see General Grant. Mrs. 
Lincoln remarking : ' ' They will be doubly 
disappointed then, if you do not go," the 
President smiled and answered: ''Well, 
perhaps I'd better go. But I am: not so 
much of a stranger to the people here as 
General Grant, and not so much of a hero, 
either." 

Before starting to the theater, the Presi- 
dent, as had been his custom every evening 
after dinner, walked over to the War De- 
parement, where he often remained with 
Secretary Stanton till a late hour. His 
escort at such times wasi a single attend- 
ant, one of his guard, and on this evening 
Crook escorted him. He had frequently 
spoken of the possibility of being killed, 
always calmly as if that was something he 
expected, but never exhibiting fear or a 
[128] 



The Greatest American 

desire to protect himself. The shadow was 
over him, from, the time he became Presi- 
dent, in the conviction that some time, 
before leaving the White House, he would 
be assassinated. When walking back that 
evening, Mr. Lincoln referred to this, re- 
marking: "But I have confidence in those 
around me to believe the assassin would 
not escape with his life." 

Mr. Colfax, Speaker of the House of Re- 
presentatives, was in the Red Room wait- 
ing to see the President, and he remained 
until Mrs. Lincoln joined them, ready for 
the theater. Mr. Colfax went out at the 
same time, and in crossing the vestibule 
the President again referred to General 
Grant, and said he was sorry to have the 
people disappointed by the General's ab- 
sence fromj the theater. Mr. Colfax bade 
the President and Mrs. Lincoln good-night 
on the portico, and Pendel closed the door 
of the carriage which bore them away to 
the theater. Two hours later the sound 
of the door bell rang through the White 
Hjouse, and Pendel opened the door. The 

[129] 
9 



Abraham Lincoln 

Sergeant of the Guard stood before him, 
pale and excited, as he exclaimed: "The 
President has been shot at the theater!" 
Pendel fell back a step as if struck, and 
then, slowly shutting the door, went up 
stairs where he found Colonel Hay, the 
President's Secretary, to whom he told 
what the soldier had said. Colonel Hay 
at once directed the attendants to keep 
the House closed and to admit no one. 
Immediately after, he went into Robert 
Lincoln's room,, broke the terrible news, 
and in a few moments they started to- 
gether for the theater. Tad, crying and - 
sobbing, was carried to his room by Pen- 
del, who held him in his arms till late in 
the night, trying to comfort him, but with 
no faith in his own words, repeated like a 
lesson, till the boy had sobbed himself to 
sleep. At day-break, Tad was taken to 
the house where the President lay dying, 
and where he saw his mother and brother 
at the bedside, stunned with grief. But 
his tears seemed to have all flowed in his 
first burst of sorrow the night before, and 
[130] 



The Greatest American 

now white, unnaturally calm, and with 
dry eyes he gazed on his father's face. 

A year after the death of the President, 
Mrs. Lincoln and Tad went abroad, re- 
maining three years, where he was at 
school in Germany. When they returned, 
he was a handsome boy of sixteen, un- 
changed in his sweet affectionate disposi- 
tion, and retaining those traits which had 
miade him so attractive when a little boy. 
But the old buoyancy of spirits was gone, 
and the bright impulsive happy hearted- 
ness which had been the daily sunshine 
about the President, was now but an oc- 
casional gleam. Those who watched this 
growing sadness in Tad's character felt 
that the light of his young life went out 
when his father died. The next two years 
were spent with his mother in Illinois, 
the greater part of the time in Chicago, 
where they lived at the Clifton House. 
Here he contracted a severe cold, which 
resulted in pneumonia, and after a brief 
illness, Tad Lincoln died at the age of 
eighteen. He sleeps by the side of his 
[131] 



Abraham Lincoln 

father and brother "Willie, in the Cemetary 
at Springfield, and where, not long after, 
his mother was laid to rest. 

Of the four mien detailed to guard the 
President, Crook and Pendel remain in 
continuous service at the White House. 
They date their appointments from No- 
vember, 1864. Pendel* is a plain man, but 
not without the sentiment of holding some 
memento of the President, as his most 
precious treasure. Among them is a locket 
with a little ring of the President's hair, 
and his appointment with the President's 
name. Crook treasures the inkstand and 
chair, used by the President, and notes of 
his diary, kept on his visit with the Presi- 
dent, at City Point. 

Abraham's Lincoln's last spoken words 
in public were on Tuesday evening, the 
second day after his return from City 
Point, when the people of Monday even- 
ing again gathered at the portico of the 

•Thomas Pendel's service of nearly forty-five years closed 
with his life, five days after the inauguration of President Taft, 
where he died respected and beloved by his friends and neigh- 
bors, and honored by his associates at the White House. 

[132] 



The Greatest American 

White House. The note of sadness) ia 
prophetic of the "promised land he may 
not enter in." 

"We meet this evening not in sorrow, 
but in gladness of heart. 

"The evacuation of Petersburg and 
Richmond, and the surrender of the prin- 
cipal insurgent army, give hope of a right- 
eous and speedy peace, whose joyous ex- 
pression cannot be restrained. 

' ' In the midst of this, however, He from 
whom, all blessings flow, must not be for- 
gotten. Nor must those whose harder part 
give us the cause of rejoicing, be over- 
looked; their honors must not be parceled 
out with others. 

"I myself was near the front, and had 
the high pleasure of transmitting the good 
news to you; but no part of the honor, 
for plan or execution, is mine. To Gen- 
eral Grant, his skillful officers and brave 
men, all belongs." 

To what intellectual niche has the im- 
partial verdict of forty-four years as- 
signed Abraham Lincoln? The only just 
[133] 



Abraham Lincoln 

scale by which to measure any man is 
the scale of actual achievement. The first 
count in the measurement of Abraham 
Lincoln is this: With a calm, sublime re- 
liance on God and the everlasting princi- 
ples of Right, he guided an immense na- 
tion through the most stupendous Civil 
War ever waged, and never made a mis- 
take. His emancipation of the siave was 
the greatest step— mOst vital in the life of 
the nation— ever taken by a President of 
the United States. It will go into history 
as a deed worthy of the Master. 

Since his tragic death, many famous 
reputations have waned or entirely disap- 
peared. But Abraham Lincoln's looms 
larger every day. There is no record in 
the world's history of such a startling ele- 
vation from obscurity. A Corsican Lieu- 
tenant of Artillery once presided over a 
Congress of Conquered Kings. Napoleon's 
head grew dizzy. Abraham Lincoln's head 
grew more serene and clear and majesti- 
cally poised, the higher he rose. His pub- 
lic life had covered little more than ten 
[134] 



The Greatest American 

years. A country lawyer in circuit prac- 
tice—not known out of his own state. At 
twenty-five, elected to the legislature; ten 
years later, two years in Congress ; another 
ten years— and then— waging the most pro- 
tracted and brilliant debate with Stephen 
A. Douglass, ever known in the politics of 
the country, more than a match for the 
"Little Giant's" intellect, oratory and ex- 
perience, at one bound achieving National 
recognition and reputation; two years 
more, nominated and elected to the high- 
est office in the gift of the nation. This 
unknown, self educated man of the prai- 
ries, is borne to the White Hjouse by the 
great popular voice of the people, and 
there he felt the throb of the people's 
hearts, every hour. 

For forty years and more, the story has 
been written and re-written, in hundreds 
of forms, and yet it is ever new in inter- 
est and undimmed in glory. Of the peo- 
ple as he was, from birth to death, Abra- 
him Lincoln often said: "I do not lead, 
I only follow." It was the genius, such 
[135] 



Abraham Lincoln 

as given to few men in this world— the 
genius of leadership. His lowly birth and 
early hardships were blessings in disguise. 
His homely jests contained more wisdom 
than many philosophic orations. Under- 
neath his rustic manners he possessed the 
most delicate instincts of the gentleman. 

Thirty years after the death of Abra- 
ham Lincoln, more had been written and 
spoken of him than ever written and 
spoken of any other American in the same 
period of time. In the past forty years, 
the name, career and fame of Abraham 
Lincoln have filled volumes of writings 
equal in magnitude to all that has been 
written of either Washington or Frank- 
lin, during more than a century. The 
distinguished services of Washington and 
public life of Franklin covered the larger 
part of half a century. Abraham Lin- 
coln's official or public life was included 
in ten years. Among American statesmen 
he is conspicuously alone, separated from 
Washing-ton and Grant, by their military 
service. On the statesmanship side of 
[136] 



The Greatest American 

his career, there is no one from Wash- 
ington down the whole line to be com- 
pared with Abraham Lincoln— Presi- 
dent of the People— nearest the people 
—best loved of the people. The eman- 
cipated slave reveres the memory of 
the man who gave him freedom. Shall we 
not cherish his memory in our homes— 
North and South, all over this broad 
land;— and mark a Lincoln day in our 
schools ? The day of his birth was the most 
auspicious of all the days, that have 
blessed us as a Nation. 



[137] 



LINCOLN WISDOM AND 
PHILOSOPHY 

"I am not much of a judge of religion, 
but in my opinion, the religion that sets 
men to fight and rebel against this gov- 
ernment, because, as they think, the gov- 
ernment does not sufficiently help some 
men to eat their bread on the sweat of 
other men's faces, is not the sort of reli- 
gion upon which people can get to 
Heaven. ' ' 

' ' I do not impugn the motives of any one 
opposed to me. It is no pleasure to me to 
triumph over any one; but I give thanks 
to the Almighty for the evidence of the 
people's resolution to stand by free gov- 
ernment and the rights of humanity." 

Men are not flattered by being shown 
that there has been a difference of pur- 
pose between the Almighty and them. To 
deny it, however, in this case, is to deny 
that there is a God governing the world. 

1 ' I do the very best I know how, the very 
[138] 



The Greatest American 

best I can; and I mean to keep on doing 
so until the end. If the end brings me 
out all right, what is said against me 
won't amount to anything. If the end 
brings me out wrong, ten angels, swearing 
I was right, would make no difference." 

If it were not for my firm; belief in an 
over-ruling Providence, it would be diffi- 
cult for me, in the midst of such complica- 
tions of affairs, to keep my reason in its 
seat. But I am confident that the Al- 
mighty has his plans and will work them 
out; and whether we see it or not, they 
will be the wisest and best for us. 

"No, gentlemen; I have not asked the 
nomination, and I will not now buy it 
with pledges. If I am nominated and 
elected, I shall not go into the Presidency 
as the tool of this man or that man, or as 
the property of any factor or clique." 

1 ' I am in a certain sense, made the stand- 
ard-bearer in behalf of the Republicans, I 
was made so merely because there had to 
be some one so placed, I being no wise 
preferable to any other one of the twenty- 

[139] 



Abraham Lincoln 

five— perhaps a hundred— we have in the 
Republican ranks." 

"If the war continues long, as it must if 
the object be not sooner attained, the in- 
stitution in your States will be extin- 
guished by mere friction and abrasion— 
by the mere incidents of war. It will be 
gone, and you will have nothing valuable 
in lieu of it. Much of its value is gone 
already. ' ' 

We grow in this direction daily, and I 
am not without hope that some great thing 
is to be accomplished. When the hour 
comes for dealing with slavery, I trust I 
shall be willing to act though it costs my 
life; and, gentlemen, lives will be lost." 

"The Almighty has His own purposes. 
Woe unto the world because of offenses! 
for it m|ust needs be that offenses come; 
but woe to that man by whom offense Com- 
eth. If we shall suppose that American 
slavery is one of those offenses which, in 
the providence of God, must needs come, 
but which, having continued through His 
appointed time, He now wills to remove, 
[140] 



The Greatest American 

and that He gives to both North and 
South this terrible war as the woe due to 
those by whom the offense came, shall we 
discern therein any departure from the 
Divine attributes which the believers in a 
living God always ascribe to Eftm?" 

"The battle of freedom is to be fought 
out on principle. Slavery is a violation of 
the eternal right. We have temporized 
with it from! the necessities of our condi- 
tion ; but as sure as God reigns and school 
children read, that black, foul lie can 
never be consecrated into God's hallowed 
Truth." 

' ' The Union is much older than the Con- 
stitution. It was formed, in fact, by the 
Articles of Association in 1774. It was 
matured and continued by the Declara- 
tion of Independence in 1776. It was fur- 
ther matured, and the faith of all the then 
Thirteen States expressly plighted, that it 
should be perpetual, by the Articles of 
Confederation in 1778. And finally, in 
1787, one of the declared objects for or- 
daining and establishing the Constitution 
[Ml] 



Abraham Lincoln 

was, ' ' to form a more perfect Union. ' . . . 
To the extent of my ability I shall take 
care, asi the Constitution itself expressly 
enjoins upon me, that the laws of the 
Union be faithfully executed in all the 
States. ... I trust this will not be re- 
garded as a menace, but only as the de- 
clared purpose of the Union, that it will 
Constitutionally defend and maintain it- 
self." 

< ' Slavery is founded in the selfishness of 
man's nature— opposition to it, in his 
love." 

"In law it is good policy never to plead 
what you need not, lest you oblige your- 
self to prove what you cannot." 

"Die when I may— I want it said of me 
by those who know me best, that I always 
plucked a thistle and planted a flower, 
where I thought a flower would grow." 

"The reasonable man has long since 
agreed that intemperance is one of the 
greatest, if not the greatest, of all evils 
among mankind." 

"The purposes of the Almighty are per- 
fect and must prevail, though we erring 
[142] 



The Greatest American 

mortals may fail accurately to perceive 
them in advance." 

"I know that the Lord is always on the 
side of the right; but it is my constant 
anxiety and prayer that I and this nation 
should be on the Lord's side." 

' ' Many free countries have lost their lib- 
erty, and ours may lose hers; but, if she 
shall, be it my proudest plume, not that 
I was the last to desert, but that I never 
deserted her." 

"Let us have faith that right makes 
might, and in that faith, let us, to the 
end, dare to do our duty, as we under- 
stand it." 

"I am nothing, but truth is everything. 
I know I am right because I know that 
liberty is right, for Christ teaches it, and 
Christ is God." 

' ' This is a world of compensation, and he 
who would be no slave, must consent to 
have no slave. Those who deny freedom 
to others deserve it not for themselves, 
and under a just God cannot long retain 
it." 

[143] 



LINCOLN EPIGRAMS 

We cannot escape history. 

Let none falter who thinks he is right. 

If slavery is not wrong then nothing is 
wrong. 

Come what will, I will keep my faith 
with friend and foe. 

There is no grievance that is a fit object 
of redress by mob law. 

I authorize no bargains for the Presi- 
dency, and will be bound by none. 

No man is good enough to govern an- 
other man without that other's consent. 

I believe this Government cannot per- 
manently endure half slave and half free. 

Gold is good in its place; but living, 
brave and patriotic men are better than 
gold. 

This Government must be preserved in 
spite of the acts of any man, or set of 
men. 

Nowhere in the world is presented a 
Government of so much liberty and equal- 

ity. 

[144] 



The Greatest American 

The dogmas of the quiet past are in- 
adequate to the stormy present. 

Plainly the central idea of secession is 
the essence of anarchy. 

The fight must go on. The cause of 
civil liberty must not be surrendered at 
the end of one, or even one hundred de- 
feats. 

Emancipation has liberated the land as 
well as the people. 

It is not fertility, but liberty that cul- 
tivates a country. 

The severest justice may not always be 
the best policy. 

By general law, life and limb must be 
protected; yet often a limb must be am- 
putated to save a life; but a life is never 
wisely given to save a limb. 

Men are not flattered by being shown 
that there has/ been a difference of pur- 
pose between the Almighty and them. 

I do not, in theory, but I do, in fact, 
belong to the temperance society. 

In giving freedom to the slave, we as- 
sure freedom to the free. 

[145] 
10 



Abraham Lincoln 

We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the 
last, best hope of earth. 

The States have their status in the 
Union and they have no other legal status. 
The Union is older than any of the States. 
Not one of them ever had a State Consti- 
tution independent of the Union. 

This country, with its institutions, be- 
longs to the people who inhabit it. 

As a pilot I have used my best exer- 
tion to keep afloat our Ship of State, and 
shall be glad to resign my trust at the ap- 
pointed time to another pilot, more skill- 
ful and successful, than I have been. 



[146] 



GETTYSBURG ADDRESS 

"Fourscore and seven years ago our 
fathers brought forth on this continent a 
new nation, conceived in liberty and dedi- 
cated to the proposition that all men are 
created equal. 

"Now we are engaged in a great civil 
war, testing whether that nation, or any 
nation so coniceved and so dedicated, 
can long endure. We are met on a great 
battlefield of that war. We have come to 
dedicate a portion of that field as a final 
resting place for those who here gave their 
lives that that nation might live. It is al- 
together fitting and proper that we should 
do this. 

"But in a larger sense we cannot dedi- 
cate—we cannot consecrate— we cannot 
hallow— this ground. The brave men, liv- 
ing and dead, who struggled here, have 
consecrated it, far above our poor power 
to add or detract. The world will little 
note, nor long remember, what we say here, 

[147] 



Abraham Lincoln 

but it can never forget what they did 
here. It is for us, the living, rather, to 
be dedicated here to the unfinished work 
which they who fought here have thus far 
so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to 
be here dedicated to the great task re- 
maining before us— that from these hon- 
ored dead we take increased devotion to 
that cause for which they gave the last 
full measure of devotion— that we here 
highly resolve that these dead shall not 
have died in vain— that this nation, under 
God, shall have a new birth of freedom— 
and that government of the people, by 
the people, for the people, shall not perish 
from the earth." 



[148] 



TRIBUTES 

"I attempt no complimlent to my own 
sagacity. I claim not to have controlled 
events, bnt confess plainly, that events 
have controlled me." These words fur- 
nish a key to the whole character and 
career of Abraham Lincoln. He was no 
inspired Elijah or John the Baptist, no 
Koyal singer of Israel, bnt a plain, true, 
earnest patriotic man, gifted with eminent 
common sense, wisdom and humor, which 
allied him intimately, warmly, with the 
masses of mankind. . . . 

He was not a born King of men, ruling 
by resistless might of his natural supe- 
riority—but a child of the people, who 
made himself a great persuader, therefore 
a leader, by dint of firm resolve, and pa- 
tient effort and persistence. 

' ' His was the might that slumbers in the 
peasant's arm!!" . . . The majestic heri- 
tage, the measureless opportunity of the 
humblest youth. Here was an heir of pov- 
[149] 



Abraham Lincoln 

erty and insignificance— obscure, untaught, 
buried throughout his childhood in the 
frontier forests— with no transcendent, 
dazzling abilities, such as make their way 
in any country, under any institution; 
but emphatically in intellect, as in sta- 
tion, one of the millions of strivers for a 
rude livelihood, who though attaching him- 
self to the less popular party— did never- 
theless become a central figure of the 
Western Hemisphere— and an object of 
honor, love, and reverence, throughout the 
world. I doubt whether man, woman or 
child, white or black, bond or free, vir- 
tuous or vicious, ever reached forth a hand 
to him and saw in his countenance or 
manner any shrinking from the proffered 
contact— any assumption of superiority— 
or betrayal of disdain. No one was ever 
m'ore steeped in the spirit of that glorious 
lyric of the inspired Scotch ploughman — 
'A man's a man, for a' that'; and no one 
was ever acquainted, and on terms of 
friendly intimacy with a greater number 
of human beings of all ranks and condi- 
tio] 



The Greatest American 

tions . . . He won his way to eminence 
and renown, by ever doing the work that 
lay next to him— doing it with all his 
growing might— doing it as well as he 
could, and learning by his failures when 
failure was encountered— how to do it bet- 
ter. Never before did any one so con- 
stantly and visibly grow, under the dis- 
cipline of incessant cares, anxiety and 
trials. There was probably no year of his 
life in which he was not a wiser, larger, 
better man, than he had been the year pre- 
ceding. It was of such a nature— pa- 
tient, if sometimes groping— but ever to- 
ward the light— that Tennyson sings: 

Perplext in faith but pure in deeds, 
At last he beat his music out. 
There lives more faith in honest doubts, 
Believe me, than in half our creeds. 

I pass over his m'anifest determination 
to treat the prostrate South with unexam- 
pled magnanimity— the terrible crime, 
which quenched the life— at that moment 
of greater value to the rebels, than that of 
any other living man. . . . 

[151] 



Abraham Lincoln 

" Perfect through suffering" is the Di- 
vine Law. The tension of mind and body, 
through the four years, had told fearfully 
upon his physical frame, ... I do not 
believe he could have lived out his second 
term, had no felon hand been lifted 
against his priceless life. . . . 

The Republic needed to be passed 
through chastening, purifying fires of ad- 
versity and suffering; other men were 
helpful to the great renovation, and nobly 
did their part. Yet, looking back through 
the lifting mists of the eventful, tragic, 
glorious years, I clearly discern that 
one Providential leader— the indispensable 
hero of the great drama— faithfully re- 
flecting, even in his seeming hesitations, 
the sentiment of the masses— fitted by his 
short-comings for the burden laid upon 
him — the good to be wrought out through 
him— was Abraham Lincoln. — Horace 
Greeley, 1865. 

He could receive counsel from a child, 
and give counsel to a sage. The simple 
[152] 



The Greatest American 

approached him with ease, and the learned 
approached him with deference. . . . 

We have done a great work for our race 
today. In doing honor to the memory of 
our friend and liberator, we have been 
doing highest honor to ourselves and those 
who are to come after us. We have been 
attaching to ourselves a name and fame 
imperishable and immortal. ... If it 
shall be said that the colored man is soul- 
less—that he has no appreciation of bene- 
fits or benefactors— we may calmly point 
to this monument we have this day erected 
to the memory of Abraham Lincoln.— 
Frederick Douglass. 



At the unveiling of the Emancipation Monu- 
ment, April 15, 1876, placed in Lincoln Park, 
Washington, by freed slaves. 



He did not seek to say merely the thing 
that was for the day's debate, but the 
thing which would stand the test of time 
and square itself with eternal justice.— 
James G. Blaine. 

[153] 



Abraham Lincoln 

President Lincoln excelled all his con- 
temporaries, as he also excelled most of the 
eminent rulers of every time, in the hu- 
manity of his nature; in the constant as- 
sertion of reason over passion and feeling; 
in the art of dealing with men; in forti- 
tude, never disturbed by adversity; in 
capacity for delay when action was fraught 
with peril ; in the power of immediate and 
resolute decision when delays were dan- 
gerous; in comprehensive judgment which 
forecasts the final and best opinions of 
nations and of posterity; and in the union 
of enlarged patriotism, wise philantrophy, 
and the highest political justice, by which 
he was enabled to save a nation and eman- 
cipate a race.— George 8. Boutwell. 

Behold him ! standing with hand reached 
out to feed the South with mercy and the 
North with charity, and the whole land 
with peace; when the Lord, who had sent 
him, called him, and his work was done. 
—Phillips Brooks. 

[154] 



The Greatest American 

Pour years ago, oh, Illinois, we took him 
from your mftdst, an untried man from 
among the people. Behold, we return him 
a mighty conqueror. Not thine, but the 
nation's; not ours, but the world's! Give 
him place, ye prairies! In the midst of 
this great continent his dust shall rest, a 
sacred treasure to myriads who shall pil- 
grim to that shrine, to kindle anew 
their zeal and patriotism.— Henry Ward 
Beecher. 

. . . He was by nature a diplomat. He 
knew the art of sailing against the wind. 
... He understood, not only the rights 
of individuals, but the rights of nations. 
In all his correspondence with other gov- 
ernments, he neither wrote, nor sanc- 
tioned, a line which afterward was used to 
tie his hands. ... In the use of perfect 
English he easily rose above all his ad- 
visors and all his fellows. . . . He stood 
at the center and with infinite patience, 
consummate skill, the genius of goodness— 
directed, cheered, consoled, and conquered. 
[155] 



Abraham Lincoln 

. . . He was wise enough to know that 
war is governed by the laws of war, and 
during the conflict, Constitutions are si- 
lent. . . . For the sake of slavery, mil- 
lions stood by the Union— for the sake of 
Liberty millions knelt at the altar of the 
Union. Nothing is grander than to break 
chains from the bodies of men. 

. . . The old flag still flies— the stars 
are there— the stains have gone. . . . He 
always saw the end. He advanced too 
rapidly for conservative politicians, too 
slowly for radical enthusiasts. He occu- 
pied the line of safety, and by force of 
his great personality, and charming can- 
dor, held the masses on his side. . . 
The pardoning power is the only remnant 
of absolute sovereignty that a President 
has. Through all the years, he will be 
known as Lincoln the loving, Lincoln the 
merciful. 

He always tried to do things the easiest 
way, and he was not particular about mov- 
ing along straight lines. He did not tun- 
nel mountains— he was willing to go round, 
[156] 



The Greatest American 

and reach the end, as a river reaches the 
siea. 

His criticism of military movements and 
correspondence with his Generals, show 
that he was at all times master of the 
situation— a natural strategist— appreci- 
ated difficulties and advantages of every 
kind. In "the still and mental" field of 
war, he stood the peer of any man be- 
neath the flag. . . . 

Had McClellan followed his advice, he 
would have taken Richmond. Had Hooker 
acted on his suggestion, Chancellorsville 
would have been a victory for the Nation. 
Hfs political prophecies were all fulfilled. 
... In his brain there was no cloud — 
in his heart no hate. He longed to save 
the South as well as the North— to see the 
Nation one and free. 

He lived until the end was known — 
until the Confederacy was dead— until Lee 
surrendered— until the doors of Libby 
Prison were opened— until the Republic 
was supreme. He lived until Lincoln and 
Liberty were united forever. He lived to 
[157] 



Abraham Lincoln 

cross the desert— to reach the palms of vic- 
tory. 

He lived until all loyal hearts were his 
—until the history of his deeds made 
music in the souls of men— until he knew 
that on Columbia's Calendar of fame, his 
name stood first. What he did was worth 
living for, worth dying for. He lived until 
he stood in the midst of universal Joy, 
beneath the outstretched wings of Peace— 
the foremost man in all the world. 

And then the horror came. Night fell 
on noon. The Saviour of the Republic, 
the breaker of chains, the liberator of 
millions,— he who had assured " freedom 
to the free," was dead. 

Upon his brow Fame placed the immor- 
tal wreath, and for the first time in the 
history of the world, a Nation bowed and 
wept. His memory is the strongest, ten- 
derest tie that binds all hearts together 
now, and holds all States beneath a Na- 
tion's flag. 

The most precious treasure of the Great 
Republic is the memory of Abraham Lin- 
coln.— Robert G. Ingersoll. 
[158] 



The Greatest American 

The character of Abraham Lincoln is 
not yet known to this generation, as it will 
be to those who shall live in later centuries. 
They will see, as we cannot yet perceive, 
the full maturity of his wisdom in its ac- 
tual effects upon the destines of two great 
races of men. . . . Had he lived to full 
age, his guidance of the emancipation that 
he decreed under military law, would have 
saved both races from many rough expe- 
riences that it has produced. . . . The 
character of Mr. Lincoln was clearly dis- 
played in his conduct of the War, but he 
was deprived of the opportunity for its 
full development in a period of peace and 
security. His most conspicuous virtue, as 
Commander-in-Chief of the Army and 
Navy, was the absence of a spirit of re- 
sentment, or oppression toward the enemy, 
and the self-imposed restraint under which 
he exercised the really absolute powers 
within his grasp. For this, all his coun- 
trymen revere his memory, rejoice in the 
excellence of his fame, and those who 
failed in the great struggle hold him in 
[159] 



Abraham Lincoln 

grateful esteem.— John T. Morgan, Con- 
federate General,— Senator from Alaba- 
ma—on the thirtieth anniversary of Presi- 
dent Lincoln's death. 

You ask that which he found a piece of 
property and turned into a free Ameri- 
can citizen to speak to you on Abraham 
Lincoln. I am not fitted by ancestry or 
training to be your teacher for, as I have 
stated, I was born a slave. 

My first knowledge of Abraham Lincoln 
came in this way: I was awakened early 
one morning before the dawn of day as I 
lay wrapped in a bundle of rags on the dirt 
floor of our slave cabin, by the prayers of 
my mother, just before leaving for her 
day's work, as she was kneeling over my 
body earnestly praying that Abraham Lin- 
coln might succeed and that one day she 
and her boy might be free. You give me 
the opportunity here this evening to cele- 
brate with you and the nation the answer 
to that prayer. . . . 

Interwoven into the warp and woof of 
this human complexity, is the moving 
[160] 



The Greatest American 

story of men and women of nearly every 
race and color in their progress from slav- 
ery to freedom, from poverty to wealth, 
from weakness to power, from ignorance 
to intelligence. Knit into the life of Abra- 
ham Lincoln is the story and success of 
the nation in the blending of all tongues, 
religions, colors, races, into one composite 
nation, leaving each group and race free to 
live its own separate social life, and yet all 
a part of the great whole. 

Says the great book somewhere, though 
a man die, yet shall he live. If this is true 
of the ordinary man, how much more true 
it is of the hero of the hour and the hero 
of the century— Abraham Lincoln? One 
hundred years of the life and influence of 
Lincoln is the story of the struggle, the 
trials, ambitions and triumphs of the peo- 
ple of our American civilization.— Booker 
Washington, Feb. 12, 1909. 

As the years roll by and as all of us, 
wherever we dwell, grow to feel an equal 
pride in the valor and self-devotion alike 
[161] 



Abraham Lincoln 

of the men who wore the blue and the men 
who wore the gray, so this whole nation 
will grow to feel a peculiar sense of pride 
in the man whose blood was shed for the 
Union of his people and for the freedom 
of a race; the lover of his country and of 
all mankind; the mightiest of the mighty 
men who mastered the mighty days— Abra- 
ham Lincoln.— Theodore Roosevelt, Feb. 
12, 1909. 

He had finished his work; the perpetu- 
ity of the Union was established. The 
house had "ceased to be divided," and the 
country had forever become "all free." — 
John C. Spooner, Feb. 12, 1909. 

To him more than any other man we 
owe, and shall for all time owe, the joy, 
the power and the gift of peace of a 
mighty people joined together as they 
never were before, under one flag and one 
covenant of law. 

And at last all see, what only part could 

see at first, the vital truth of the text to 

which he turned at Chicago before the 

election, "A house divided against itself 

[162] 



The Greatest American 

cannot stand," repeated on the great seal 
of Kentucky: "United we stand, divided 
we fall." 

For him there is no need of any memo- 
rial place or token. He lives and will for- 
ever live in the hearts of all the people of 
all the earth as the man of the people, 
grand in simple, noble, dignity, almost 
strange in wisdom and prophetic foresight 
as if it were a gift direct from God.— 
Governor Wilson of Kentucky, Feb. 12, 
1909. 

In victory and defeat, in hope and de- 
spair, through four frightful years of civil 
war he guided our destinies to peace and 
made us a free and united nation. His 
life was glorified in his death. He fell a 
martyr at the foot of his finished work— 
his work upon which humanity will for- 
ever shower its tears and God His benedic- 
tion. So we gather on the centennial of 
his birth to take fresh inspiration from 
his life for service and sacrifice, if need 
be, for the common good. — Governor 
Deneen of Illinois, Feb. 12, 1909. 
[163] 



The Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863 
Sit tlj* fr*iitfl*n! of tlje Htttifo 5iat»* of Atnrrira 

ffl herr aa, On *ne 22nd day of September, in the gear of 
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a Proc- 
lamation was issued by the President of the United States, 
containing, among other things the following, to- wit: 

"That on the first dap of January, in the year of our Lord 
one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held 
as Slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the 
people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United 
States, shall be then, thenceforth, anrfFORBVBR FREB, and the 
EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 
including the military and naval authorities thereof, WILL 
RECOGNIZE AND MAINTAIN THE FREEDOM of such persons, 
and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of 
them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. 

That the Executive will, on the first day of January 
aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts 
of States, if any, in which the people thereof respectively 
shall then be in rebellion against the United States, and the 
fact that any State, or the people thereof shall on that day be 
in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States 
by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority 
of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, 
shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony be 
deemed conclusive evidence that such State and the people 
thereof are not then in rebellion against the United States. " 

•Now. utyrrrfor*. 3. ABRAHAM LINCOLN, PRESI- 
DENT OF THE UNITED STATES, by virtue of the power in me 
vested as (Eommanarr-tn-QHiUf of til* Army ano Nabg of the 
United States in time of actual armed Rebellion against the 
authority and government of the United States, and as a fit 
and necessary war measure for suppressing said Rebellion, 
do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one 
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance 
with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaim for the full period 
of one hundred days from the day of the first above-mentioned 
order, and designate, as the States and parts of States 
wherein the people thereof respectively are this day in rebel- 
lion against the United States, the following, to-wit: AR- 
[164] 



KANSAS, TEXAS, LOUISIANA, (except the Parishes of St. 
Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. 
James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne, La Fourche, 
St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of 
Orleans), MISSISSIPPI, ALABAMA, FLORIDA, GEORGIA, 
SOUTH CAROLINA, NORTH CAROLINA, AND VIRGINIA, 
( except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia 
and also the counties of Berkely, Accomac, Northampton, 
ElizabebethCity, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including 
the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted 
parts are for the present left precisely as if this Proclamation 
were not issued. 

And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, 
I do order and declare that ALL PERSONS HELD AS SLAVES 
within said designated States and parts of States are, and 
henceforward SHALL BE FREE! and that the Executive Gov- 
ernment of the United States, including the Military and 
Naval Authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the 
freedom of said persons. 

And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be 
free, to abstain from all violence, UNLESS IN NECESSARY 
SELF-DEFENCE, and I reccommend to them that in all cases 
when allowed, they LABOR FAITHFULLY FOR REASON- 
ABLE WAGES. 

And I further declare and make known that such persons 
of suitable condition will be received into the armed service 
of the United States, to garrison forts, positions, stations, 
and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said 
service. 

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of jus- 
tice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, 
I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gra- 
cious favor of ALMIGHTY GOD. 

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my name, and 
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

[l. s. ] Done at the City of WASHINGTON, this first 

day of January, in the year of our Lord one 
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Indepen- 
dence of the United States the eighty-seventh. 
/y/f//' Cl/? Cfl /By the President. 

Secretary of State. 

[165] 



LINCOLN STATUE 

When the Lincoln Statue Commission 
decided to permit one full-sized replica of 
the bronze Statue to be cast, it was the act- 
ive interest of Richard Lloyd Jones, and 
the generosity of Thomas E. Brittingham, 
that made possible this great gift to the 
University of Wisconsin. Mr. Jones is a 
member of the Commission, Associate Edi- 
tor of Collier's Weekly, and alumnus of 
the University. Mr. Brittingham is a resi- 
dent of Madison, and with largeness of 
view appreciated the opportunity to serve 
the University and the State. 

The following strong and beautiful word 
picture of the future influence of the 
Statue, is from the address of acceptance, 
by the President of the University of Wis- 
consin, February 12, 1909. 

"It will be remembered that a lad named 
Ernest, created by Hawthorne's imagina- 
tion, growing up in a village set in a broad 
and deep valley, had his attention called 
[166] 




THE WEINMAN STATUE OF LINCOLN 

Erected by appropriation of the Congress of the United I States, and the 

Legislature of Kentucky, and unveiled on Decoration Day tyu.J, 

iftheCoun House Sufuare of ^^^^^f^r^vT' 

ville, Kentucky. The only replica of this Statue was pur 

chased by Mr. Thomas E Brittingham of Madison, 

Wisconsin, and presented to the University of 

Wisconsin - placed in the Court of Honor, 

and unveiled the 22d of June, 1909. 



The Greatest American 

by his mother to the noble lineaments of 
a Great Stone Face on a mighty buttress 
of one of the surrounding mountains. 
Among the people there was a tradition 
that some time a native of the valley would 
appear with a face like the gigantic one 
in stone. The growing boy continued his 
life among the villagers, and each morning 
he looked out upon the strong and benig- 
nant Great Stone Face, and hoped that he 
might some day see the man who was its 
image. The boy reached manhood and 
middle age, doing the work of a villager, 
and lending a hand to his neighbors. Grad- 
ally he became a source of strength to the 
people with whom he was in contact, and 
very slowly as age grew upon him, his 
fame extended far beyond his native val- 
ley. Several times a celebrated man, born 
in the valley, returned from the outer 
world. Each time Ernest looked eagerly 
forward to his coming, hoping that he 
would resemble the Great Stone Face. Each 
time when the noted man appeared, Ernest 
was profoundly disappointed, but still 
[167] 



Abraham Lincoln 

hoped that before he died he would see in 
a man the likeness of the face of stone. 
One evening, while addressing the villag- 
ers, as had become his habit, a poet visitor 
saw the truth, and cried: 
'Behold, behold, Ernest is himself the 
likeness of the Great Stone Face.' During 
his many years of deep reflection upon the 
inner meaning of things, and of faithful 
service to his fellows, his features had be- 
come the counterpart of his ideal. 

It cannot be doubted that the bronze 
face of Abraham Lincoln will modify the 
spiritual faces of the students of the Uni- 
versity who are to view daily the sad, 
calm, determined, and rugged face of our 
great President of the Civil War. What 
this Lincoln Statue will do in the way of 
developing nobility of character and sus- 
tained courage to carry forward the fight 
for the advancement of the people of this 
country, no one may foretell; but that it 
will be perpetually one of the great and 
high educational forces of the university, 
no one may doubt. From it, during the 
[168] 



The Greatest American 

centuries to come, many hundreds of thou- 
sands of students will gain at least a re- 
flection of the spirit of service to their 
country that animated Abraham Lincoln. 
They will persist to the end in the great 
fight for right and equal justice to all, even 
as did this man of sorrow. This spirit 
will pass in some measure to the millions 
with whom they come in contact, and grad- 
ually the widening influence for good of 
the Lincoln Statue will extend throughout 
the world." 



[169] 



Abraham Lincoln 

"Between the Mourners at his head and feet, 
Say, Scuriel- jester, is there room for you?" 
Yes, repentent; humble repentent. There is 
room for you, — There is room for all, — for 
' ' That was the grandest funeral 
That ever passed on earth." 
Did the bells toll? We heard them not. 
Did the guns give parting tribute? We listed not. 
Tear stained faces, bowed heads, and list- 
less hands were all we saw — the stifled sobs of a 
Nation, all we heard. 

From city, to city the silent train passed on, 
bearing the one sable shrouded casket, 

The nation 's emblem for a pall ; and ever, 
the crowding, clinging mourners between 
The head and feet. From the Northern Ocean 
to the Southern Seas, was only this: 

A silence born of grief, too mighty for words ; 

too deep for moans. And thus they bore him on 

and laid him in the quiet grave, among his own. 

He had given his life for us; could "we give 

him but a grave"? 

' ' O lonely grave in Moab 's land ! 
O dark Beth-Peor's hill! 
Speak to these curious hearts of ours, 

And teach them to be still. 
God hath His mysteries ot grace, 

Ways that we cannot tell; 
He hides them deep, like the hidden sleep 
Of him He loved so well. 

—Clara Barton, Feb. 12, 1909. 
[170] 



The Greatest American 

The prairies to the mountains call, 

The mountains to the sea; 
From shore to shore a nation keeps 

Her martyr's memory. 

Though lowly born, the seal of God 

Was in that rugged face; 
Still from the humble Nazareths come 

The Saviors of the race. 

With patient heart and vision clear 
He wrought through trying days— 

"Malice toward none, with charity for all," 
Unswerved by blame or praise. 

And when the morn of Peace broke through 

The battle's cloud and din, 
He hailed with joy the promised land 

He might not enter in. 

He seemed as set by God apart, 

The winepress trod alone; 
Now stands he forth an uncrowned king, 

A people's heart his throne. 

Land of our loyal love and hope, 

O Land he died to save, 
Bow down, renew today thy vows 

Beside his martyr grave! 

—Frederick L. Hosmer, Feb. 12, 1909. 

[171] 



11 



jUN 22 1909 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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